The Lightning Push The Bruins To The Brink Of Elimination With A Frustrating 3-1 Loss In Game 4

 

    Let's just get this out of the way first: yes Tuukka Rask not being here for his team is a major factor but even with him on the ice, the Lightning would most likely still be in control of this series. After an unexpected day off (thanks to the NHL temporarily pausing the postseason to focus on racial injustice), Tampa Bay resumed its beating of Boston with a 3-1 win in Game 4 to take a 3-1 series lead. How dire are things for the Bruins after they lost their third straight game? Well, they have never rallied to win a series when they are down 1-3. In that dire situation, they are 0-23 in best-of-7 series. Conversely, the Lightning are perfect at closing things out when they are up 3-1 in a series since they are 5-0 in that favorable spot. Woof. Game 5 is on Monday night (7, NBCSN). 

    Boston's margin for error is so small when they matchup with Tampa right now so needless to say, allowing the first goal and finding themselves down 3-0 in the second period is basically a guaranteed loss before its even over. It's easy to rip Nick Ritchie (12 penalty minutes including a 5-minute major for a boarding penalty that led to the 3rd goal) and Jaroslav Halak (23 saves but his customary whiff on a routine glove save) since they both had outings that they surely would like to forget but I think that overlooks a sputtering Bruins offense that has managed to score two goals total in Games 3 and 4 combined. Is that bad? Their lone goal today came with 12:56 left in regulation as Jake DeBrusk used his sneaky fast release to throw a wrist shot through Andrei Vasilevskiy's (29 saves, 9th win of the postseason) five-hole.

    Too often, Boston's power play (1-for-4) or 5-on-5 for that matter was overpassing or simply not hitting the net when they had some great scoring chances. Brandon Carlo actually ventured forward for a pair of opportunities that were predictably stuffed by Vasilevskiy-one of the NHL's best goaltenders. Meanwhile, David Pastrnak had a game-high six shots on goal but none of them found the back of the net which is not good enough from one of the NHL's top goal-scorers this season-no matter what injury he might have. Nikita Kucherov (2 assists) is having a nice series which is totally on brand but Tampa has to be thrilled with its secret offensive weapon: Ondrej Palat who has two goals today & four already in the series including his current three-game goal-streak. Also, Victor Hedman (game-high 27:09)-who is no doubt on the short list of best defensemen in the league-has four points (3 goals, assist) in these four games including another tally this afternoon.

    It's hard to pinpoint one main reason for Boston's struggles on defense in this latest setback because all three goals came in separate and annoying ways: awful coverage in front of the net, an easy stop that Halak has to make every time and a crazy deflection that ended up behind him. Ugh. Brayden Point's filthy stickhandling made Torey Krug look like a fool but truthfully, all five Bruins on the ice (plus Halak) were too slow to react as he hit Palat with a one-timer that he put in the upper corner of the net. 1-0 Lightning at 8:59 of the first period. Things only got worse from there for the B's as Palat's second goal came at 12:29 of the second period. It was another one-timer, this time from Anthony Cirelli and Tyler Johnson with Halak's invisible glove hand the real hero on the shot that was from distance. Boston had nearly killed all of Ritchie's five-minute major but Hedman's harmless shot from the point deflected off Par Lindholm's skate and floated over Halak but under the crossbar. 3-0 Tampa at 18:04 of the second period. Goodnight everybody! Tyler Johnson and Kucherov had the helpers on the goal that likely ended the Bruins' life in the Toronto bubble for all intents and purposes. 

       DeBrusk's fourth goal of the postseason came at 7:04 of the third period to cut it to 3-1 Lightning but it was far too late to have any real effect on the final outcome. Boston's two BU alums that grew up in Masschusetts (Charlie Coyle and Matt Grzelcyk) had the assists on DeBrusk's smooth finish. The Bruins actually outshot the Lightning 11-6 in the third but that's a tad misleading since Tampa was just trying to escape with their collective health intact. These B's have more than enough pride and professionalism to show up on Monday and put forth another solid effort but frankly, they are cooked. With no Rask, this isn't exactly a fair fight and you can sense the Lightning get more confident with each goal that they score.

    No matter if this series ends in five games, six games or seven, it feels like we're nearing the end of an era for the B's. I'm not really sure how Rask ever shows his face in Boston again let alone plays another game for the Bruins while 43-year-old captain Zdeno Chara seems on the verge of retirement. Last season was awesome up until Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and then this one was great pre-pandemic as they captured the cursed Presidents' Trophy. Since that time, they went 0-3 in the round-robin (after not taking it seriously enough) which pissed away their top seed, they rolled in five games over the still inept Hurricanes and now they are 1-3 vs. Tampa Bay. Which part of that equation looks like an aberration? There are many valuable pieces left on the team but GM Don Sweeney will have some serious alterations to do during the bizarre offseason (Krug will get a serious pay raise either here or elsewhere). Those are all issues for another day though as Tampa Bay (5-0 in Game 5s in a best-of-7 series when leading the series 3-1) gets their first chance to eliminate Boston (7-16 in Game 5s in a best-of-7 series when trailing in the series 1-3) in two nights.

Lightning Respond With A 4-3 Overtime Victory In Game 2 To Even The Series 1-1 With The Bruins

 

    You are truly insane if you thought that Boston's Game 1 win on Sunday night meant that this second round series vs. Tampa Bay would be over fast let alone easy in any shape or form. Nope, these are two of the best teams in the NHL so naturally after losing the opener, the Lightning bounced back with a 4-3 overtime thriller. The extra session lasted less than five minutes (4:40 to be exact) as Ondrej Palat put in a loose puck (from Yanni Gourde and Pat Maroon) after his club dominated-outshooting the Bruins 9-1-in overtime and improved to 4-0 this postseason when the game goes beyond regulation. Thanks to the NHL's baffling schedule, these teams will be right back at it in less than 24 hours as Game 3 is tomorrow night (NBC Sports, 8). Don't bother wasting your breath because Jaroslav Halak (36 saves) will be Boston's starting goaltender for the rest of the series barring injury or a lopsided score.

    The B's were outshot 40-25 for the entire contest so that makes it feel like they should have lost by more than a goal. However, when you look at some other stats, you realize that it wasn't a complete fluke that they forced overtime in the first place. Boston won 52% of the face-offs, went 1-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, had four more hits (47-43), blocked nine more shots (27-18) and coughed up the puck five less times (15-10). The Bruins actually scored first courtesy of a very unlikely source-Nick "Don't Call Me Brett" Ritchie-and they also led 2-1 in the second period for a brief moment but they needed some clutch heroics from Brad Marchand late in the third period to tie it at three. 

    With one of Tampa's best players-defenseman Ryan McDonagh-sidelined with an unknown injury this evening, this was a wasted opportunity by the Black and Gold to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. Early on it seemed like things would go their way though as Ritchie stuffed in a loose puck just 3:14 into the first period. Ritchie's first point of the postseason was also assisted by Anders Bjork (another guy that has been mostly useless in the playoffs) who also notched his first point. Shortly after that, Tampa Bay appeared to tie it on Barclay Goodrow's tip-in but it was overturned since Brayden Point took his sweet time getting off the ice for a line change thus being offside and negating the goal. It didn't take the Lightning that long to recover from that disappointment as Blake Coleman scored on a diving one-timer from Zach Bogosian. Goodrow had the second assist on Coleman's second goal of the postseason at 12:42 that knotted it at 1-1. 

    Boston's power play has become the most dangerous one in the playoffs and true to form, they tallied another big goal. David Pastrnak whipped a crisp low pass to Marchand who was next to Andrei Vasilevskiy (22 saves) and put his skates into a V formation with his stick in the middle to knock it in. Brad's fifth goal of the postseason came at 14:33 of the second period from Pasta and Torey Krug. The B's could barely protect that lead before poof, it was gone. Nikita Kucherov deflected in a shot by BU's Kevin Shattenkirk (4-game point streak) at 15:28. Point added the second assist on Kucherov's third goal of the playoffs. 

    Tampa carried that momentum into the third period as Coleman scored his second goal of the night, this time on a breakaway. The incredible Victor Hedman (who played a game-high 28:37) found him with a step behind everyone on Boston and while he didn't have the cleanest shot, the changeup worked effectively enough to fool Halak and go through his five-hole at 10:40. I'm sure that was deflating to the Bruins but they turned the page quickly as one killer shift resulted in the tying goal by Marchand at 16:02. Pastrnak and Sean Kuraly worked hard to keep the puck in Tampa Bay's defensive zone and Brad was right on the doorstep to pop it in. It was an awesome moment for the B's and many other opponents would have been shook, but sadly not the Lightning.

    There are different theories about if it's better to have more time to think about a brutal playoff loss or to get back out there ASAP. For whatever dumb reason, the league took that out of our hands as they put not only one but possibly two back-to-backs (also Games 6 and 7 if it goes that long) in this huge playoff series. What else can you say but NHL gonna NHL? There are a million reasons why hockey will never be more than a niche sport in many parts of the world and little annoying things like this don't help its cause. Granted, this will all be a moot point once Game 3 starts and we stop complaining about a silly thing like this that we cannot control. Both teams will be playing under the same condensed timeline but at least with veteran rosters and experienced head coaches we can expect plenty more tight, drama-packed action as someone takes a 2-1 series lead.

       

    

Tampa Bay Jumps Out to Early 2-0 Lead & Never Look Back En Route to an Easy 4-1 Win In Game 3

To state the obvious: the Lightning are not the Maple Leafs. Nope, not one bit. After Boston managed to come away with a 6-2 victory in Game 1 on Saturday at Tampa Bay, the Lightning bounced back with a 4-2 win at Amalie Arena on Monday. As the series shifted to TD Garden, Tampa continued to be the aggressor as they scored twice in the first 3:19 of Game 3 to skate away with a 4-1 win and 2-1 series lead. Like an older brother to a younger brother, the Lightning completely smothered the Bruins in almost every facet of the contest that mattered: earning four more power plays (5-1) and recording eight more shots on goal (37-29).

This sets up what is basically a must-win for the B's on Friday (7, NBCSN) since it's hard to fathom that they could beat the Lightning three games in a row after what we've seen out of Tampa Bay in the past two tilts. Of course, it's hard to beat anybody in the playoffs when you combine for three goals in two games. The Tuukka Rask (33 saves) haters should take a night off since this wasn't his fault at all, in fact it could have been much worse since he made a bunch of saves when the outcome was still to be decided. Tampa's goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy hasn't looked exactly picturesque in this series, but it's tough to argue with his results lately.

It was the first day of 2018 that felt like summer with temperatures around New England well into the 80s so you could excuse some of the Bruins' fans for showing up a few minutes late. The Lightning didn't take pity on us poor untanned Northerners as they scored not one but two goals before Boston could blink. Boston rookie defenseman Matt Grzelcyk made a mistake on a puck flipped into his defensive zone and Tyler Johnson was able to feed Ondrej Palat for an easy goal at 1:47. Palat's third of the postseason was also assisted by Anton Stralman. Giving up the first goal is one thing but another right on top of it is unforgivable, especially on home ice. Palat bagged another at 3:19 by deftly tipping in a shot from Victor Hedman. The ghost of Dan Girardi had his first assist of the playoffs on Palat's third goal in the last two games (2 periods to be exact).

The only time that Boston was really in it was for a brief few minutes late in the first period: they converted their only power play opportunity in only 29 seconds as Patrice Bergeron banged in a sweet one-handed pass from David Pastrnak. Brad Marchand had the second assist on Bergeron's fourth goal of the postseason which cut Tampa Bay's lead to 2-1. The Bruins defense let Rask and the rest of the club down on the third goal as rookie Anthony Cirelli was able to take not one (whiffed), not two (saved by Rask) but three shots that understandably were too much to survive in such a fast sequence. Cirelli's first career playoff goal was assisted by fellow rookie Yanni Gourde and Ryan McDonagh.

You waited for the Black and Gold to make a push in the second but they didn't. David Backes fought Cedric Paquette after Tampa Bay's resident wannabe tough guy jumped Backes who had had boarded Girardi. Paquette ended up with a 10-minute misconduct but that hardly mattered since he is an irrelevant buffoon. The scary part for the Bruins is that the Lightning two best players (and 2 of the top forwards in the NHL)-Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos-have been really quiet. Stamkos got an empty-netter with 41.2 seconds left in regulation, only his second goal of the postseason and amazingly, the first point of the series for Tampa's beastly top line.

To win Game 4 and get back in this series, Boston has to shoot way better than they did in Game 3. Tonight they had a whopping 19 shots blocked and if that wasn't bad enough, they missed the net with another 17 shots. This evening, Tommy Wingels was inserted on the fourth line for Tim Schaller but he didn't do anything notable (-1 in 11:24 with 1 shot on goal, 5 hits and 1 blocked shot). Since the Bruins have scored only three goals in the past two games (with just 1 from a forward), I would give rookie Ryan Donato another chance because putting the puck in the net is his specialty. Adam McQuaid wasn't hurt but only skated 9:46 in Game 3 so perhaps he could be scratched for Nick Holden, not that he would likely change the dynamics of this matchup.

As you can imagine, the numbers don't look great for the B's heading into Game 4: they are 8-23 all-time in best-of-seven series when they trail a series 2-1 and they are 16-15 in Game 4s when trailing a series 2-1. The Lightning are 5-3 all-time in best-of-seven series when they lead a series 2-1 but they are 3-5 in Game 4s when leading a series 2-1. The simple remedy for the Bruins appears to be a fast start in Game 4: put some actual pressure on the Lightning and make them play from behind while the Garden goes bananas. Boston's fans wanted something to cheer about tonight (with Pedro Martinez and Bobby Orr in the house) but the B's hardly gave them anything to truly appreciate and savor.

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The Bruins Have Picked the Wrong Time of the Year to Have a Season-High 4-Game Losing Streak

There is a reason that sequels rarely ever live up to the original: nobody prefers to see the same story, jokes, predictable ending, etc. Apparently the Bruins (38-30-6) don't subscribe to that common theory with movies as right now, they are heading into a tailspin that is eerily reminiscent of the springs of 2015 and 2016. With everything to play for, once again they fell flat on their already bruised faces, losing 6-3 tonight to Tampa Bay (35-29-9) who looked far more desperate to make the postseason despite an array of serious injuries up and down their talented roster. The crazy part about Boston's fourth straight regulation loss (a season-high) is that they actually led not once, not twice but thrice. That's right, of course their combined time in front of the Lightning was 2:43 which hardly seems humanly possible except it really happened before our own eyes.

Toronto (35-23-15) beat New Jersey (27-34-12) 4-2 tonight which means that the Leafs are now up three points on the Bruins with a game in hand. The B's are clinging to the second Wild Card spot in the East aka getting the honor of being swept by the top seed Washington (48-17-8) in the first round. After a scoreless first period that was akin to watching paint dry, things really got more interesting in the second as Boston kept scoring goals, only to be quickly answered by Tampa Bay every time. Special teams were a huge factor for the Bruins (in a positive way early then a negative manner later) as David Pastrnak opened the scoring with a power play goal at 1:33. His one-timer (32nd goal of the season) was assisted by Patrice Bergeron and Ryan Spooner. Before the PA announcer had even said anything about that tally, Tampa Bay's Brayden Point put in a rebound at 2:17 for a 1-1 tie. Ondrej Palat and Jake Dotchin had the assists on his 13th goal of the season.

Boston started to take too many needless penalties but Zdeno Chara temporarily quelled that pain with a shorthanded goal at 7:50. It was the second shorthanded goal of his long, storied career (both coming this season) and eighth overall in this campaign, assisted by Riley Nash and Dominic Moore. Still on the power play, Tampa Bay tied it as their young star Nikita Kucherov hit a one-timer that might have gone wide of the net but it deflected in off of Tuukka Rask's (23 saves) back skate for his 35th goal of the season, assisted by Jonathan Drouin and the beast known as Victor Hedman. No worries, Nash tied gave the Bruins their final lead at 13:18 after Peter Budaj (28 saves) was way too slow to react on a wraparound attempt then to compound things, Nash's pass out front bounced in thanks to Hedman's skate. Nash's fifth goal of the season was assisted by Moore and Kevan Miller.

Tampa Bay was relentless from there as Anton Stralman roofed a shot over Rask's shortside to tie it one last time at 14:53. His third goal of the season was assisted by Palat and Point. You would think that the Bruins might finally react in the third period to their season slipping away but nope, they didn't one bit. In fact, it turned into a laugher as Drouin put one by Rask that he needs to save then Kucherov completed his third career hat trick with another power play goal and then an empty-netter that sent the Garden crowd all scurrying for the exit. No matter how many times head coach Bruce Cassidy or the players shoot it down, you can tell that the pressure (and wretched memories from the last 2 years) are starting to get to them at the worst possible time.

There are eight games left for the Bruins and only two of them are on the road. They face another playoff contender on Saturday (7, NESN) as they go to Brooklyn to take on the Islanders (34-26-12) who are two points back with two games in hand. Furthermore, New York is at Pittsburgh (46-17-9) tomorrow night so if the Isles can win that, they would go into Saturday's showdown with not only a chance to overtake the B's for the second Wild Card but it would also take Boston's control out of their own hands. Yeesh. Rask played in his 59th game of the season tonight and just like the last two collapses, he seems to be fading down the stretch (3-4-0 in his last 7 decisions) after playing with crappy backups year after year. That leaves the team in an impossible position because it's not like you are going to sit your franchise goaltender now. All we can hope is that they can put this recent malaise behind them starting this weekend. If not, well I'd rather not go to that rather dark place at this very moment.

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The Bruins (0-3) Are Off to Their Worst Start In 16 Years

The week to forget continued for the Bruins as they welcomed another top club to TD Garden this afternoon and limped away with an eerily similar loss. Tampa Bay (3-0) looked the part of defending Eastern Conference champions as they rallied from an early 2-0 deficit and fought off three power-play goals by Boston (0-3) to post a 6-3 victory on Columbus Day. This is the worst start for the Bruins since 1999-2000 and the 16 goals allowed in these three defeats is their most in 50 years.

It all started so well too as David Krejci (1 goals, 2 assists) scored on a power-play at 2:59 from Torey Krug (3 assists) and Patrice Bergeron. Loui Eriksson doubled Boston's lead after a tap-in at 11:02, another power-play strike that was preceded by slick passing from Krug and Krejci. Former BC star and Hingham native Brian Boyle cut it to 2-1 at 15:42 after the big man was somehow allowed to skate in the slot unimpeded than rip a wrist shot over Tuukka Rask (17 saves). It's been a shaky start for Rask and you can't blame all his troubles on the crappy defensemen in front of him. Ondrej Palat tied it at 16:52 with a weak shot that squeaked through Rask's pads.

David Pastrnak has been one of Boston's lone bright spots to this dark period but he looked like a child when Boyle came barreling through the neutral zone and bounced off him without breaking his slow stride. Boyle went in on a breakaway and scored on a backhander, four seconds after Tampa Bay had killed a Bruins power-play. Ben Bishop (27 saves) is another top goaltender in the NHL and he had an uneven performance although his acting ability led to a pair of goaltender interference penalties called on the B's. Eriksson added another power-play tally at 12:20 by deftly tipping in Krejci's shot with Krug getting another helper.

Tampa Bay ended Boston's 10-game winning streak vs. Lightning at TD Garden, this was their first road win here since March 25, 2010. Steven Stamkos was able to exorcise some personal demons as well since this was the rink where he gruesomely broke his leg two years ago. He picked up his 500th career point with his patented one-timer rocket at 15:17. Zdeno Chara returned today (Matt Irwin was rightfully sent to Providence after he cleared waivers) while Brad Marchand was out with a concussion but Boston couldn't muster another comeback in the third period. As good teams usually do, some fluky goals went the Lightning's way as Rask gave up a horrible goal to Jonathan Drouin at 5:38 and Valtteri Filppula sent most of the fans home early with a goal off his skate at 15:58 (it looked like he kicked it but it stood after a review).

For a team with so many problems, perhaps the best thing for the Bruins to do is get out of the area for awhile and try to regroup. They are at Colorado (1-1-0) on Wednesday (10, NESN) and Arizona (2-0) on Saturday (10, NESN). Their next home game isn't until a week from Wednesday against equally terrible Philly (0-1-1). Needless to say, for head coach Claude Julien's job security and numerous players, the B's need points starting as soon as possible.

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It's David Pastrnak's World, We're Just All Living In It

All season, the Bruins have been looking for someone to score goals and provide a spark and it looks like they found it with the youngest player in the league: 18-year-old right wing David Pastrnak, their first-round pick from last summer. In his eighth career NHL game, the rookie scored two goals for the second game in a row as Boston knocked off the top team in the Eastern Conference-Tampa Bay-4-3 at TD Garden.

Boston's (23-15-6) fourth straight win was impressive since they rallied from two different deficits, granted Tampa Bay (27-14-4) was playing the second night of a back-to-back but that's the NHL. Milan Lucic (1 goal, 1 assist), David Krejci (2 assists) and Torey Krug (2 assists) all had two points and Tuukka Rask only had to make 16 saves for the win.

Ever heard of Steven Stamkos? Haha yeah the Lightning superstar is still one of the NHL's top players. He scored the first two goals for Tampa Bay which made it 1-0 in the first period then 2-1 in the second. His first was a re-direct at 9:23 when the Bruins' defense was caught napping and he was free in front of the net for his 24th goal of the season. Brad Marchand tied it at 16:42 on a one-timer thanks to a sublime cross-ice feed from Carl Soderberg. Krug had the second assist on Marchand's team-leading 12th goal of the season (don't laugh!). A loose puck found Stamkos in the slot at 10:55 in the second period and you know the rest.

Pastrnak tied it at 15:24 with a brilliant one-on-one move (have I said that at any point this season regarding a Bruin?). Maine alum Ben Bishop (30 saves) had no chance to stop it after his defense got burned. Lucic and Kevan Miller assisted on Pastrnak's third goal of the season/his career. Lucic provided the backbreaker at 19:06 as his shot deflected in off Anton Stralman's skate. Finally, the Bruins seem to be getting more breaks than they give up. Krejci and Dennis Seidenberg assisted on Lucic's ninth goal of the season.

The Garden exploded some more as Pastrnak scored his second at 1:30 of the third period. He wheeled by Tampa Bay's cage for a beautiful wraparound goal. Krug and Krejci assisted on that work of art that took supreme confidence on top of the eye-popping skill. All that was left was to see if either Stamkos or Pastrnak would bag a hat trick.

The Lightning are the best club in the East (well they were before the Islanders blanked the Rangers tonight) for a reason: they didn't roll over as Ryan Callahan cut it to 4-3 Boston at 14:18 on that dreaded double deflection. Mark Barberio's shot was tipped by Harvard's Alex Killorn to the former Rangers star. Tampa Bay waited a little too long to pull Bishop as the Bruins were able to survive a bunch of penalties in the third period for the impressive two points.

Boston has two more games at the Garden then two on the road before the All-Star break. Thursday (7, NESN) should be another great test as the Rangers (24-12-4) come to town for their first of three meetings this season. Those are usually low-scoring but very entertaining affairs between the Original Six rivals.

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