Trying to Clinch Home Ice vs. Leafs, B's Give Away a Game Against the Going Nowhere Panthers

How did the Bruins (47-22-9) game against the Panthers (35-32-12) at TD Garden go this afternoon you ask? Well to illustrate how poorly things went for the home team, good old Roberto Luongo (30 saves, 17-16-4) was named the No. 1 star. In other words, I feel bad for anyone that paid to get into this dog's breakfast of a performance by the B's. Hell I go for free (humblebrag) and I still wanted a refund for being subjected to that gross 4-1 win by Florida.

Boston could never really make it interesting as they trailed 2-0 in the first period, got their only goal midway through the second then Tuukka Rask (19 saves, 26-12-5) gave up a soft shorthanded goal that he has to stop when it matters (say in the playoffs in a few weeks). It's tough to get to down though on a team that is tied with Calgary (48-23-7) for the second most points in the NHL. Furthermore, before this no-show, they had won 12 straight games at the Garden and earned points in 14 in a row (12-0-2) here. Likewise, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand saw their 17-game home point streaks end in front of mostly children and their families on a sunny Saturday in late March.

Florida has been an underachieving team for years; at least if you look at their collection of talented young forwards and defensemen, you wonder why they haven't been more of a factor in the Eastern Conference. Truth be told, Luongo and/or their lack of other quality goaltending options have been their biggest issue for why they'll miss the playoffs once again in 2018-19. They have the No. 2 power play in the NHL which isn't the be-all end-all but a top line of Jonathan Huberdeau (2 assists), Aleksander Barkov (assist) and Evgeni Dadonov (2 goals) is pretty nice. Of course, it doesn't help matters that they play in the toughest division in hockey with Tampa Bay (59-14-4), Boston and Toronto (45-25-7) all looking down on them. Carey Price is the only reason they aren't better than the Canadiens (41-29-8) in my humble opinion, how else can you explain why Montreal is a playoff contender and they aren't?

The puck luck was on the Panthers' side all afternoon (side note Boston had been 7-0-1 in matinees this season before this) from start to finish. A loose puck bounced in off of Riley Sheahan at 13:37 of the first period for a 1-0 Florida lead. Dryden Hunt (that can't be a real name) and Milton MA's own Keith Yandle had the assists on Sheahan's ninth goal of the season. A juicy rebound kicked out by Rask led to another goal for the Panthers a little over two minutes later: Dadonov potted the goal (his 27th of the season), from Aaron Ekblad (game-high 25:20 of ice time) and Huberdeau at 15:44.

Fittingly for such a crap performance, Boston's fourth line was the only one cited positively in head coach Bruce Cassidy's post-game remarks. Noel Acciari cut it to 2-1 at 13:12 of the second period after an awesome shift by Torey Krug (tying his career-high from last season with 45 assists) who threw the puck across the ice and the former PC standout put in a working man's backhander. His sixth goal of the season was also assisted by Joakim Nordstrom. B's fans finally had something legitimate to cheer about but Rask managed to end that quickly by allowing Troy Brouwer to beat him blocker side for a backbreaking shorthanded goal at 14:19. BC's Mike Matheson had the second assist on Brouwer's 11th goal of the season.

The Bruins outshot the Panthers 31-23 and had 61 shot attempts (20 blocked, 10 missed net) to their 35 (8 blocked, 4 missed net) but in the end (Lincoln Park voice, sorry that's very dated and quite lame) it didn't matter one bit. Dadonov scored an empty-net goal at 17:41 of the third period and everyone went home slightly upset. Granted it's tough to be that angry on a Saturday unless you are truly a psycho. Even if Toronto (45-25-7) wins as expected tonight at tanking Ottawa (27-44-6), the Leafs would still trail Boston by four points while both have four games remaining in the regular season. That is not an insurmountable lead for the B's but they appear unlikely to blow that while Toronto is all over the place.

Enough of these worthless matchups against clubs that will be sitting on a tropical beach and drinking their faces off by next Sunday. Speaking of which, Boston is at Detroit (30-38-10) tomorrow night (7:30, NBC Sports) to start their final (Midwest) road trip that also includes stops in Columbus (43-30-4) on Tuesday (7, NESN) and Minnesota (36-33-9) on Thursday (8, NESN) before returning for their home/regular season finale vs. the Lightning next Saturday afternoon (1, NESN). The Red Wings have won four games in a row which I suppose is swell but that franchise is still a hot pile of garbage. Jaroslav Halak (21-10-4) will be in net as the Bruins try to improve on their stellar records this season in Game 2s of back-to-backs (9-2-2) and Game 2s of three games in four days (11-3-2).

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What an Exciting & Enjoyable (Regular) Season That This Has Turned Out to Be for Your Bruins

Help, it's only early March and I'm starting to run out of ways to praise the 2018-19 Bruins. Tonight at TD Garden, for the second game in a row, they spotted their opponent (Florida) a 2-0 lead but nobody will remember that is they rallied for a bonkers 4-3 win that extended their point-streak to 18 games (14-0-4) tied with last season's identical run for the second-longest mark in franchise history (23 in 1940-41). What was particularly nuts about these two points is that the B's (41-17-9) tied it with 36.5 seconds left in regulation on Matt Grzelcyk's bardown blast and Patrice Bergeron was the hero for the millionth time as he scored the game-winning goal with 6.7 seconds left on poor Roberto Luongo (24 saves). Who needs overtime anyway?

Obviously relying on comebacks like this won't be sustainable in the postseason but with guys like David Pastrnak (thumb surgery), Jake DeBrusk (lower-body injury) and Marcus Johansson (lung contusion) currently sidelined with injuries, you take the victories however you can stack them up. Tuukka Rask (22 saves, 23-8-5) had his worst performance in a long time and yet he still managed to extend his own point-streak to 18 games (15-0-3). During that stretch, he has a goals against average of 1.93 and a .931 save percentage. Hi Tuukka haters, how are you all doing? (Crickets).

Fittingly for such a bottom of the barrel franchise, tonight's loss clinched another playoff-less season (for the 20th time in 25 seasons of existence) for the Panthers (28-27-12) not that anyone will likely notice or more importantly care one bit. After a scoreless first period, Florida's No. 3 power play in the NHL flexed its muscles with a pair of goals. First captain Aleksander Barkov (who I just found out tonight is Finnish, wouldn't you think that he's Russian?) tipped in Milton MA native Keith Yandle's wrister for his 29th goal of the season. Jonathan Huberdeau had the second assist on the game's opening goal at 2:48 of the second period. Things got worse for the Bruins and their penalty kill unit as Huberdeau batted a puck out of the air for another power play tally at 6:27. Barkov and Yandle (playing in his NHL-best 782nd consecutive game) had the helpers on Huberdeau's 19th goal of the season. Rask flailed at the slow motion shot with his glove and he got a piece of it but couldn't corral it completely.

Boston responded midway through that frame as David Krejci worked a pretty give-and-go with Danton Heinen for his 17th goal of the season at 10:29. David Backes had the second assist on Krejci's tight angle shot that he still managed to roof over a prone Luongo. At 39, you have to think that this could Luongo's last season in the NHL and when he finally retires, the Bruins and their fans will be sad to see that day since they have owned him for almost eight years now and counting. Bergeron tied it with a shorthanded goal for the second game in a row. Charlie McAvoy and Brad Marchand had the assists on his 24th goal of the season at 8:50 of the third period. It was a wrist shot from some distance but somehow Luongo couldn't stop it.

Huberdeau wouldn't let his team fold though at least at that point as he spun around to fire a shot past Zdeno Chara and Rask at 10:55. Evgeni Dadonov and Aaron Ekblad had the assists on that shot that seemed to catch Rask by surprise. Boston waited until the last minute to really build the suspense: it started with David Krejci drawing a tripping penalty on Mike Hoffman and eventually Rask came to the bench for an extra skater. Grzelcyk's goal came with one second left on the power play with Marchand and McAvoy registering the assists on his second goal of the season and undoubtedly the biggest of his brief Bruins career. I had complete confidence that the Black and Gold would find a way to win it in overtime but good old Luongo made sure that they wouldn't need to go beyond regulation. Marchand won a puck battle in the corner and fed Bergeron in the slot for his latest highlight reel unforgettable goal. Like any Bruins fan, I'm thankful every day that I get to watch those two fantastic hockey players on my favorite team.

This dream of a six-game homestand (5-0-0) comes to an end on Saturday night (7, NESN) as the Bruins have the honor of hosting the NHL's worst team-the Senators (23-39-6). Anything can happen in this league but I'd be shocked if the B's let up and this incredible points streak ends against that AHL-level club. Sean Kuraly returned this evening after missing the past two games with a concussion and head coach Bruce Cassidy said that DeBrusk could possibly play on Saturday since his latest injury didn't seem too serious. Most importantly, this result pushed Boston four points ahead of Toronto (41-21-5) while both teams have exactly 15 games remaining in the regular season with no head-to-head matchups left. It looks almost like a lock (barring a huge closing run by Montreal and/or an epic collapse by the Leafs) that it will be Boston vs. Toronto for the second year in a row in Round 1 of the playoffs.

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Bruins Lose Their Fifth Straight Game, 4-1 to the Panthers, Leaving Their Playoff Hopes in Jeopardy

Even in a marathon 82-game regular season, there is never a good time to have a five-game losing streak (all in regulation, their longest such streak in over 6 years) but I'd say that during crunch time of a playoff push is just about the worst possible occasion to completely fall apart. Boston (39-28-8) lost all three of its games in California last week, fell 5-2 to the Rangers (42-24-8) last night at Madison Square Garden and this evening they came home to TD Garden and promptly lost 4-1 to Florida (41-24-9) in another must-win game.

The wonderful pregame ceremony for B's head coach Claude Julien (now the franchise's all-time leader in wins) was one of the only things for Bruins fans to feel good about after Boston failed to gain the all-important season sweep (3-1) of Florida who with the victory went five points ahead of them with a game in hand. As usual this season, a replay didn't go in Boston's favor (same story as the Rangers game) as a possible tying goal by Patrice Bergeron midway through the third period was wiped away and the B's proceeded to disintegrate.

After a scoreless first period, the Bruins broke the deadlock as Ryan Spooner beat Roberto Luongo (34 saves) at 7:42. Frank Vatrano and Loui Eriksson assisted on Spooner's 13th goal of the season (his 1st since March 3 vs. Chicago). Former Bruins great Reilly Smith tied it one at 13:51 as Tuukka Rask (32 saves) couldn't corral a rebound. Victor Trocheck and Jussi Jokinen assisted on Smith's 24th goal of the season (tying him with Jaromir Jagr for the team lead). I know everyone was in favor of it at the time but trading Smith straight up for Jimmy Hayes (13 goals, 16 assists) has been nothing short of a disaster in Year 1. Boston's suddenly useless power play went 0 for 4 and they compounded that by giving up a shorthanded goal to Trocheck at 18:46. Torey Krug got caught up ice and Trocheck was able to roof a shot over Rask's glove. Alex Petrovic had the lone assist on Trocheck's 24th goal of the season.

It has reached the point where I can honestly say after watching so many Bruins goals get called off for various reasons in 2015-16 (offside, goalie interference, no conclusive evidence the puck crossed the line, etc.) that I find it impossible to say what is or isn't a goal anymore in the NHL. Bergeron jammed in a loose puck that clearly was in the net before Luongo fished it out and yet after a lengthy review, the men in stripes deemed it still not worthy (it was ruled no goal initially). Julien has lost his mind over those type of incidents countless times this campaign and the normally unflappable Bergeron was understandably upset.

As you would expect, the momentum flipped and the Panthers quickly put it out of reach as Jokinen tipped in Dmitry Kulikov's shot at 10:56 for a 3-1 advantage (2nd assist to former Bruin Steven Kampfer) and Jonathan Huberdeau's empty-netter at 19:39 ended it. Boston only has seven games left (4 on the road and 3 at home) beginning on Saturday (7, NESN) at Toronto (27-35-11). Yes the Maple Leafs are one of the worst teams in the league but they beat Anaheim (40-23-10) tonight in overtime so it's not like they are a pushover that has given up. The Bruins are at New Jersey (36-31-7) on Tuesday (7, NESN) before a brutal one-two punch of at St. Louis (43-22-9) on Friday (8, NESN) followed by their final road game of the regular season-at Chicago (42-25-7) on Sunday afternoon (12:30, NBC).

If they can survive that gauntlet, their last three favorable tilts are all at the Garden: vs. Carolina (32-28-14) on April 5 (7, NESN), vs. Detroit (37-26-11) on April 7 (7, NESN) and vs. Ottawa (34-33-8) on April 9 (12:30, NESN). The top Wild Card team in the Eastern Conference-the Islanders (39-24-9) have one more point than the Bruins but that's not nearly as relevant as the Red Wings since they are also in the Atlantic Division. Boston is a point ahead of Detroit but the Red Wings have a game in hand which is why that meeting on April 7 seems like it'll be enormously important for both clubs. All that the B's can do is focus on their next game and hope that they can break this killer losing streak otherwise they are going to narrowly miss the playoffs for the second year in a row (which would surely cost Julien his job).

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