The Bruins Blow A 2-Goal Lead In 3rd Period, Suffer A Brutal 4-3 Loss In OT vs. the Maple Leafs

If the Bruins hope to reach the postseason this spring, losses like the one they experienced on Tuesday at TD Garden simply cannot happen. Boston (26-18-6) was up 3-1 on Toronto (18-22-9) early in the third period but then they proceeded to cough that up as the Maple Leafs tied it with two more tip-in goals and won it on overtime thanks to P.A. Parenteau's backhander on the power play.

The B's (11-14-2) have found numerous painful ways to lose on their home ice already this season but this was a new low for them. The Leafs certainly play much harder under new head coach Mike Babcock (and they unveiled a new logo after the game!) but they possess very little talent. In fact, making this loss more stunning for Boston was the fact that Tuukka Rask (17-15-5; 31 saves) came in with a 14-3-1 lifetime record against Toronto while Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer (9-8-6; 39 saves) was 5-6-3. I guess it was fitting in a way since a Bruins win would have given them a season sweep after they had beaten the Leafs three times in a row for 2015-16.

It was the first game for both clubs since the All-Star break and Brad Marchand continued his great goal-scoring stretch. He added two more goals (his team-leading 21st and 22nd of the season) which gives him seven goals and one assist in his last eight contests. He put in a rebound at 9:37 of the first period, from Jimmy Hayes and Matt Beleskey. UNH's Daniel Winnik tied it at one with a tip-in at 9:56 of the second period. Roman Polak and Shawn Matthias assisted on Winnik's fourth goal of the season.

Boston came out flying to start the third as Marchand redirected a pass by David Krejci for a 2-1 lead 55 seconds into the frame. David Pastrnak had the second assist on Marchand's go-ahead tally. Just 26 seconds after that, Krejci poked in a loose puck for his 12th goal of the season and a seemingly comfortable 3-1 Bruins advantage. Torey Krug and Pastrnak assisted on Krejci's goal.

The Bruins were 21-2-2 when leading by two or more goals this season, although this marked the seventh time that they have blown a two-goal lead (5 in regulation & 2 in overtime). It wasn't anything fancy produced by the Maple Leafs in their unlikely comeback as they went to the dirty areas in the slot and redirected shots from the point. Their lone All-Star Leo Komarov cut it to 3-2 at 9:02 when he tipped in Morgan Rielly's shot. Polak picked up another assist on Komarov's 17th goal of the season. Boston apparently never really adjusted their defensive coverage as Nazem Kadri hurt them by doing the same exact thing: his tip-in came 2:29 after Komarov's. Former Bruins scrub Matt Hunwick and Komarov picked up assists on the emerging Kadri's 11th goal of the season.

Even before it fully unfolded, overtime had a sour taste for the B's as David Krejci was called for a holding penalty. Boston was able to kill that 4-on-3 Toronto power play for 1:23 but then Parenteau ended it by flipping in a rebound. Jake Gardiner and Kadri assisted on Parenteau's 12th goal of the season. In a stat which makes no sense whatsoever, Boston fell to 1-5 in overtime this season while they are 3-1 in shootouts. Huh? Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs picked up their first OT win (1-4) while they are 4-5 in shootouts.

The B's get a point from this debacle (you have to remember that) but no question it should have been two without breaking a sweat. Boston's supposedly cake schedule to start the second half continues as they are at Buffalo (20-26-4) on Thursday (7, NESN) then they host the Sabres here on Saturday (7, NESN). The Bruins have already been embarrassed by the Sabres earlier this season (6-3 in Boston on December 26) so I can't imagine that they would overlook them again. Plus, at this point there is nobody in the NHL that they can automatically pencil in a win against, especially at the Garden. Ugh.

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Bruins Completely Flop In Their 1st Game Vs. Canadiens Since Last Postseason

For the first chapter of Bruins-Canadiens in the 2014-15 regular season, it was more of the same carried over from last spring. Boston (ahem Milan Lucic) mentally got out of their game, their defense was a mess and the biggest issue of all continues to be Tuukka Rask's inability to beat Montreal.

The Canadiens (4-1-0) outlasted the Bruins (2-4-0) 6-4 tonight at the Bell Centre. Rask gave up five goals before he was mercifully pulled in the third period, in 18 career regular season starts vs. Montreal, he is 3-11-3 with .902 save percentage. Lucic further disgraced himself (and likely cost himself some money) by making a lewd gesture to the crowd after a boarding call with 1:20 left in regulation. This wasn't cool or funny, the B's were only down 5-4 at the time but that effectively ended it. He got a 10-minute misconduct and P.A. Parenteau scored an empty-netter to clinch it.

If you want to take a positive from this, Boston's offense finally woke up with a season-high four goals. They also blew two separate leads but that's another story. Zdeno Chara's power play goal, a tip in, was answered by Max Pacioretty's power play goal 2:30 after that in the first period. In the second, Boston's defense started to spring a leak or 10 as Brendan Gallagher made it 2-1 before Carl Soderberg tied it. Loui Eriksson gave the B's a short-lived 3-2 lead before they fell apart at the end of the frame. Jiri Sekac scored his first NHL goal and Parenteau slammed home a one-timer with 24 seconds left.

Gallagher's second goal (a slow motion redirect from a mile away) was incredibly soft and signaled the end of the night for Rask. Niklas Svedberg came in and credit Boston for showing some life as Simon Gagne potted his first tally as a Bruin. That was as close as they would get though as Lucic's selfish idiocy (granted the boarding call was probably based on his less than great reputation) sealed their fate.

Gallagher had a career-high two goals and an assist, Pacioretty put together a three-point night as well (1 goal, 2 assists) while David Desharnais, Alexei Emelin and Tomas Plekanec each notched a pair of assists. David Krejci, Chris Kelly and Lucic all had two assists for Boston in the loss.

After a back-to-back on the road against Atlantic Division rivals, Boston gets a day to regroup before closing out this trip in Buffalo on Saturday (7, NESN) at the First Niagara Center. The Sabres (1-3-0) are still one of the NHL's worst teams so the B's have to take advantage of that and come home with two more points. I expect Svedberg to get the start then, I never thought he'd get the call tonight since head coach Claude Julien wouldn't put him in that spot.

UPDATE 10/17: Lucic was fined $5000 by the NHL for his tomfoolery, the highest amount allowed without having a hearing.

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Four Goals In The 3rd Period Leads To A Bruins Win On The Island

Any time that Tim Thomas gets a game off, it's a good thing for the Boston Bruins. If they can also win, that makes it even better since the playoffs begin in less than two weeks and he'll probably start every game.

Marty Turco (19 saves; 2-1-1) did enough and the B's (46-28-4) scored four goals in the third period as they beat the New York Islanders (33-34-11) 6-3 this afternoon at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The pro-Bruins crowd enjoyed a monster game from Boston's second line as Brad Marchand (1 goal, 2 assists), Tyler Seguin (1 goal, 2 assists) and Patrice Bergeron (1 goal, 1 assist) combined for eight points. Five different Bruins scored and Chris Kelly became the sixth Bruin to score 20+ goals this season.

The regular season finish line is a week away and Boston is playing like a determined team (6-1-1 in their last 8) with big expectations for another deep playoff run.

Krejci (22nd of the season) gave the B's a 1-0 lead at 18:11 of the first period thanks to a fine assist from Milan Lucic (2 assists). Andrew Ference had the other assist.

Turco allowed his only soft goal as Kyle Okposo (21st of the season) tied it 29 seconds later with a wrist shot that he should have gloved.

Gregory Campbell and Michael Haley fought early in the second period. It wasn't a classic bout but it seemed to get both teams into it, a tough thing to do with an early afternoon game on a Saturday.

Kelly picked up his career-high 20th goal on a sweet individual move and a hard shot that crossed Al Montoya (21 saves) up at 4:58 of the second period.

P.A. Parenteau (17th of the season) tied it at 2 with a nifty assist from the underrated John Tavares (2 assists) at 14:26. Matt Moulson (2 assists) had the other helper.

Marchand (27th) and Seguin (27th) matched each other with goals to start the third period. Parenteau made it interesting, with his second goal at 14:53.

Bergeron (21st of the season) and Krejci (career-high 23rd) iced it with a pair of goals 24 seconds apart. Bergeron's was off a rebound and Krejci once again benefited from Lucic moving his skates and looking up.

Thomas will be back in goal tomorrow night as the Bruins play at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers who are still the Eastern Conference's top team. Yes, it doesn't mean much since both teams are assured of getting a high seed (B's need 5 more points to win the Northeast Division and get the No. 2 seed) but New York is 3-0 so far against Boston. The B's need to at least play well if not grab two points to give themselves some piece of mind that the Rangers aren't unbeatable.

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