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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Bruins Begin 2013-14 With Complete 3-1 Win Over Lightning

It feels like Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final happened a few weeks ago so it was somewhat bizarre to see the Bruins turn the page and begin another season tonight at TD Garden. They beat the Lightning 3-1 by playing a Boston type of game: three different guys scored goals, Tuukka Rask (32 saves) looked like one of the best goaltenders in the NHL and flawless penalty killing with the added bonus of two shorthanded goals.

Beating Tampa Bay doesn't mean much since they likely aren't going anywhere which is a shame since Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis would be gods on at least half of the other teams in the league. For the B's it was a good tuneup for Saturday (7, NESN) when they host the Red Wings. That'll be a nice early test to see how they stack up against their new division rivals.

The Lightning owned the first period, outshooting the Bruins 15-6 but they had nothing to show for it since Rask denied everything and Chris Kelly scored in the most unexpected way possible: a shorthanded penalty shot at 11:39. Looking like Chris Kelly circa 2011, he beat Tampa Bay rookie defenseman Matt Barberio and was hooked down before he got to Anders Lindback. Using the patience of a much better skilled player, Kelly calmly stickhandled around Lindback and finished with a backhander.

It was a good night for debuts as Tampa Bay's Valtteri Filppula tied it at 10:32 of the second period on assists from Eric Brewer and former Harvard star Alex Killorn. There was nothing Rask could do, Adam McQuaid and Daniel Paille were beaten up ice, leading to a 2-on-1. Boston showed their usual helping of grit and toughness with fights from Shawn Thornton in the first period and newcomer Jarome Iginla in the second period. Loui Eriksson didn't score but he seemed to mesh well with linemates Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Likewise, Reilly Smith was a positive on the makeshift third line with Jordan Caron and Chris Kelly who were both excellent (for them).

Milan Lucic from the playoffs appeared and scored the game-winner at 19:00 of the second period. He had stolen the puck then rushed up ice with David Krejci who left it for him. His top shelf wrist shot left poor Lindback with no chance to stop it. Patrice Bergeron, back from his countless injuries suffered last postseason, added the insurance marker at 4:02 in the third period. Like Kelly's, his goal was totally obscure: a 3-on-5 shorthanded goal. I have no clue how he got so much space after blocking a shot but his snap shot eluded Lindback just enough to cross the goal line. It was unassisted so Boston somehow had one total assist on three goals.

Boston's power play did not play well (0 for 3) but that was forgotten with their shorthanded brilliance. Rask also made the lead stand up when they weren't doing much for intermediate stretches. Tonight was just the beginning (duh) but there are so many reasons to be excited about what should be another long and thrilling season for the B's.

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My Dream Of A Perfect November Crumbles At The Hands Of The Detroit Red Wings

When I am commissioner of the NHL, I will create the rule that the Boston Bruins must have a home-and-home series with the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, every season. These Original 6 matchups (to go with the normal Bruins-Rangers, Bruins-Canadiens and Bruins-Maple Leafs) are too juicy to pass up, the fans of these storied franchises deserve those games.

Rant aside, I knew that Boston's (13-7-1) 10-game winning streak would come to an end at some point but since it finally happened, I can't complain much about this afternoon's 3-2 shootout loss to Detroit (13-7-1) at TD Garden.

Todd Bertuzzi had the winning goal in the shootout after teammate Pavel Datsyuk scored earlier and Nathan Horton tied it with Boston's last shot.

It was a hell of a game, really entertaining with superior puck movement, physical play and top notch goaltending, what more can you ask for? Unfortunately, unlike last season where they played twice, this was the only meeting between the B's and Wings in the regular season. You know what that means, they'll just have to meet in June for the Stanley Cup Finals.

Boston outshot Detroit 43-31 and that wasn't misleading as the Bruins dominated play for long stretches of time. The problem was that Red Wings goaltender and former UMaine star Jimmy Howard (41 saves) was on for most of the game and Detroit had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 that Boston had to rally from.

Tuukka Rask (29 saves; 3-3-1) made somewhat of a surprise start but as usual, he acquitted himself well.

After some significant pressure on Howard in the first period, Detroit skated against the tilted ice and Valtteri Filppula (5th of the season) gave them a 1-0 lead at 12:43 after some nice passing from Henrik Zetterberg and Ian White. Filppula tipped in Zetterberg's centering pass from the half boards, Rask didn't have much of a chance to stop it from in close.

Daniel Paille (3rd of the season) tied it at 4:05 of the second period after some great forechecking and a pass from behind the net that came from Horton.

Loyal NHL fans know that Datsyuk is a magician with the puck and he lived up to that moniker with a silly goal just 35 seconds after Paille scored. It was so fast, that the Bruins PA guy hadn't finished announcing Paille's goal. Datsyuk's sixth of the season was assisted by his linemates Bertuzzi and Johan Franzen.

Thanks to a bad giveaway by Zetterberg in his own zone, Patrice Bergeron (5th of the season) pounced on a loose puck and whipped it by Howard at 7:52 in the third period.

Both teams had chances to win it later in the third period and a crazy overtime session. Filppula put a shot over from like a foot outside Boston's net while Zdeno Chara blasted a slap shot that skittered inches wide and Howard stuffed Horton from in close.

With points in 11 straight games, Boston will look to start another winning streak tomorrow night as they host the Winnipeg Jets. I will be in attendance (my first game of 2011-12) and I expect Tim Thomas to get the start. Additionally, I think the B's will get back in the win column and score some more goals against one of the Eastern Conference's worst squads.

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