Home From a Productive Trip (3-1-0), the B's Sleepwalk Through a 5-2 Defeat vs. Calgary

When you have the best record in the NHL (39-13-12) and the most points (90) like the Bruins currently do, it is tough to complain about all that much in this unexpectedly smooth campaign. Still, they ended what had been a great road trip with a bizarre beatdown in Vancouver on Saturday (9-3 blowout) night then they came back to TD Garden this evening and never really put up much of a fight as they lost 5-2 to the Flames (the first-place Wild Card team in the West) who they had beaten 4-3 last Friday in Calgary. It was a wasted opportunity for the B's as well since the Lightning (40-18-5) lost (for the 3rd game in a row) 4-3 in regulation to the Maple Leafs (33-23-8). Boston remains five points ahead of Tampa Bay and 16 points in front of Toronto so it's already down to a two team race for the Atlantic Division crown in 2019-20.

Bruins GM Don Sweeney had a pretty quiet trade deadline yesterday as he flipped winger Danton Heinen to Anaheim for former first-round pick and winger Nick Ritchie (Brett's younger brother). This came on the heels of another deal with the Ducks on Friday: washed up right wing David Backes, a prospect (defenseman Axel Andersson) and a first-round pick this summer for right wing Ondrej Kase (who was a scratch tonight as he recovers from an injury). Other Bruins trade targets who didn't ultimately materialize: former BC star Chris Kreider re-signed with the Rangers, Tyler Toffoli was traded last week to the Canucks and poor Kyle Palmieri has to continue to rot away in New Jersey. Coming into tonight, Ritchie had eight goals and 11 assists in 41 games for a terrible Anaheim club while Kase put up seven goals and 16 assists in 49 games. I don't expect either guy to light the world on fire but considering that Heinen is just a guy and Backes has literally nothing left, they have to be at least a slight upgrade for the Bruins heading into the playoffs.

You always hear about how that first game back after a long road trip (in the NHL or NBA) is always a tough one to find your legs in. That seemed to be the case for the Black and Gold who never led and only managed to tie it up once on First Responder's Night (one of the team's best annual events) at the Garden. Jaroslav Halak was honored in a pregame ceremony for appearing in his 500th NHL game earlier this season. Starting goaltender Tuukka Rask (23-7-6) had his season-long 20-game point-streak on home ice snapped as he allowed four goals on 30 shots. The Flames were buzzing early as T.J. Brodie's shot hit the post and then settled between Rask's legs for a face-off. Boston wasn't so lucky on the next bounce as Mikael Backlund's shot went off the end boards but went right to Matthew Tkachuk (Keith's older son) who finished a backhander top-shelf past a sprawling Rask. BC's Noah Hanifin had the secondary assist on Tkachuk's 21st goal of the season at 11:35 of the first period.

Boston tied it with a shorthanded goal by Brad Marchand-his franchise-best 27th of his career-at 10:08 of the second period. Charlie McAvoy had the lone assist as Marchand used his speed and elusiveness to do most of the hard work for his 25th goal of the season. A pair of goals by Sean Monahan only 1:12 apart later in that frame put Calgary in complete control with a 3-1 advantage. He one-timed a pass from former BC star and Hobey Baker winner Johnny Gaudreau at 13:25. His 20th goal of the season was also assisted by Michael Stone. Before the Bruins knew what hit them, Monahan scored a power play goal at 14:37 by perfectly re-directing a pass by Tkachuk with Erik Gustafsson getting the other helper in his Calgary debut.

The Bruins came in with an NHL-best 21-2-9 record at home so you figured that no matter how sloppy or lethargic they were, they would probably push back a bit at some point. Indeed, they cut it to 3-2 at 13:09 of the third period as Chris Wagner scored an extra greasy goal (his specialty). Sean Kuraly and Par Lindholm notched the assists on Wagner's sixth goal of the season. He's scored goals in back-to-back contests for the second time this season (Dec. 5 & Dec. 7) which means something when you are on the fourth line which by the way was Boston's best forward group in this tilt. For a time it seemed like the Flames would at least blow it in regulation and have to go to overtime but then Backlund said no way with the dagger insurance goal at 18:30 (his 13th of the season was unassisted) before adding an empty-netter shortly after that.

This was the start of a very difficult week for the Bruins as they host Tyler Seguin and the Stars (37-20-6)-good enough for second-place in the Central Division-on Thursday (7:30, NBCSN) then they go to Long Island for a Saturday matinee (1, NESN) with the Islanders (35-20-7)-the top Wild Card in the East. No practice tomorrow should help Boston get some rest and refocus as they only have 18 games remaining in the regular season. With any luck, Kase is healthy enough to play against Dallas and he can give them some kind of spark. The Stars won 4-1 at Carolina (35-23-4) tonight and at 7-2-1 in their last 10 games, they are clearly clicking at the moment. Thursday should be an entertaining tilt on national TV with the slightly later start time (ie. more time for pregame suds for Bruins fans in the nearby bars).

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If the Bruins Go to a Shootout This Season, You Know For Certain That They Are Doomed To Lose

There are few certainties in life: death, taxes and the Bruins losing in shootouts. That might sound like a stretch but with tonight's 4-3 loss to Calgary (35-25-4) at TD Garden, Boston (31-22-10) fell to 2-7 in shootouts this season. Newly acquired David Schlemko (waived by Dallas), a seldom-used defenseman who had the least ice time of anybody on either team (7:00) had the game-winner in round eight for the Flames. Patrice Bergeron was the only Bruin to beat Karri Ramo (34 saves) in the shootout while Josh Jooris was the other guy on Calgary to put one past Tuukka Rask (29 saves).

Oddly enough, the only team in the NHL with a worse shootout record than them is the Kings (1-7). Oh and this was the seventh time in a row that the Bruins lost in a shootout, somehow all with Rask in goal. Ugh. Also this evening, the Panthers lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Stars and the Flyers beat the Blues 3-1 so Boston remains two points ahead of Florida and Philadelphia has pulled to within four points of the Bruins (with 2 games in hand). The other team to watch in this thrilling race for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference is Ottawa who is only five points back of Boston with a game in hand.

For the sixth game in a row, Boston scored the first goal of the game which obviously hasn't translated into that many wins. Brad Marchand wrapped around Calgary's goal and scored on a backhander at 7:46 of the first period. Bergeron and Dougie Hamilton assisted on Marchand's team-leading 19th goal of the season. Calgary's young star Sean Monahan tied it at 18:49. On the power play, he was able to gather a loose puck near Rask and hit the net for his team-leading 23rd goal of the season. Jiri Hudler and Kris Russell had the assists.

Milan Lucic continued to build chemistry with his new linemates Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak. Lucic banged in a one-timer from Spooner and Pastrnak at 2:30 of the second period for his 14th goal of the season which gave Boston a 2-1 lead. Calgary's next goal was all Rask's fault as he kicked a juicy rebound right to Hudler, who deposited that gift at 14:26. His 21st goal of the season was assisted by Mikael Backlund and former Bruins great Dennis Wideman.

The 2014 Hobey Baker winner-BC's Johnny Gaudreau-had a happy return to his old stomping grounds. His power play snipe at 4:59 of the third period snapped a 15-game goalless streak and more importantly, gave his team a 3-2 advantage. Russell and Wideman had the assists on the goal by one of the NHL's top rookies.

It was a tough night for Loui Eriksson, who missed a couple wonderful chances to score, but he at least made one of them count at a very important juncture. He tied it at 11:40 with a shot from in close that he nearly flubbed and Ramo got a piece of it but the puck still had enough juice to go over the line. Eriksson's 15th goal of the season was assisted by Chris Kelly and Carl Soderberg.

Boston is 7-3 in overtime this season but when they couldn't score (outshooting Calgary 3-1) in the extra session, you knew that they were screwed since Calgary was 3-1 in shootouts. The only solace for them is that if they can reach the postseason, they won't have to face the dreaded shootout.

Things don't get any easier for the B's since this kicked off three games in four days: the Flyers (28-25-12) come to the Garden on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) followed by the Red Wings (36-15-11) on Sunday afternoon (12:30, NBC). Boston has owned Philadelphia the last few years but this is also the same team that lost to Calgary in overtime and a shootout this year so anything can happen. Detroit is having a real good season that nobody has seemed to notice so the Bruins will have their hands full there. Haha is there any chance to Niklas Svedberg starts either game? I would say no.

UPDATE 3/6: The B's only had practice today but they made news as Reilly Smith got a two-year extension worth $6.85 million and Torey Krug got a one-year extension worth $3.4 million. As always, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli felt the need to lock up his "core guys" sooner than most others would ever think to do it. Krug makes sense but two years for Smith, really?

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