The two points and a new franchise record appeared to be in the bag. The Bruins led the Ducks 3-1 late in the third period Thursday night and should have been putting the finishing touches on their seventh straight win, which would have been the longest season-opening unbeaten streak in Boston’s 100-year history.
Bruins blow lead vs. Ducks, finally lose first game
Instead, the Bruins let the game and the record slip away, surrendering two goals in the final 1:55 and losing, 4-3, in overtime.
“It’s inexcusable,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said after the game. “You can’t be up 3-1, five minutes left, and end up tied, going to overtime.”
Montgomery is right, of course. It is inexcusable. So, how did it happen? And is it cause for any bigger-picture concern?
Let’s start with how it happened. The key chain of events began when the Bruins got a power play with 9:23 left in regulation. East Longmeadow native Frank Vatrano threw an ill-advised crosscheck at Hampus Lindholm after the whistle, gifting the Bruins a golden opportunity to extend their lead to 4-1 and all but put the game to bed.
It was actually a pretty good-looking power play. They had clean zone entries with speed. They moved the puck quickly. A Charlie McAvoy one-timer led to a loose puck and a scramble in the crease, but Ducks goalie John Gibson eventually covered. A David Pastrnak one-timer seemingly beat Gibson under the arm, but just glanced off his jersey and went wide. Hampus Lindholm had a strong drive to the net with speed, but Gibson turned him aside as well.
But instead of the Bruins building off that power play and keeping the pressure on, it was the Ducks who claimed momentum after the kill and started swarming the Boston zone. The Bruins started to sit back, trying to just play solid enough defense to hold onto the lead.
The defense started to crack around the 4:00 mark, when Patrick Brown got too aggressive behind the Boston net and took a holding penalty when he bear-hugged Jakob Silfverberg. From there, failed clears became the name of the game.
Linus Ullmark had the puck on his stick, but the Bruins goalie fired it into his team’s bench, keeping the puck in the Boston zone for the ensuing faceoff. Charlie Coyle had a free clear, but completely whiffed on it. When the Bruins finally got the puck into the neutral zone, Jake DeBrusk took aim at the empty net, only to fire the puck right at Anaheim defenseman Pavel Mintyukov.
Then came Pavel Zacha’s sequence from hell. Three times in the span of 15 seconds, he had the puck on his stick and a chance to clear, but failed. A backhander that was too soft and easily intercepted. Another backhander that was too soft and easily knocked down. Then he got the puck again, but this time hung on for a split-second too long and had it stripped away. Seconds later it was in the back of the Boston net, with Leo Carlsson burying a rebound to cut the lead to 3-2.
The Bruins still had a chance to settle down and close out the final 1:55 for the win. They did not. Instead, there were more failed clearances. David Pastrnak tried to flip the puck out of the zone, but didn’t get it high enough, allowing Cam Fowler to glove it down at the line. That led to extended zone time for the Ducks, an offensive-zone faceoff win, and more pressure.
With 23 seconds left, Hampus Lindholm had the next – and final – chance to seal the win with a clear. He got it clean on his backhand below the goal line and… fired it right at Ducks forward Troy Terry. A few seconds later, Terry threw the puck to the front and it deflected off Brad Marchand’s stick and past Ullmark for the tying goal.
The Bruins barely even touched the puck in overtime, but it was more of the same sloppiness when they did. A miscommunication in the defensive zone resulted in Pastrnak passing the puck behind his own net to no one, resulting in a turnover. Jake DeBrusk led the Bruins’ lone foray into the offensive zone, but he cut back into a double team and turned it over. The Ducks took off on a 2-on-1 the other way that ended with Mason McTavish's game-winning goal.
“Lack of poise with the puck,” Montgomery said when asked what led to the collapse. “We had opportunities. I thought the game was over twice, put it in the empty net. Guys whiffing on pucks. Guys trying to go for the open net instead of using the walls as an indirect to clear and get off the ice. And then the other thing is we could have extended our lead to 4- or 5-1.
We had many opportunities to do it. We didn’t finish the game.”
So, any reason for bigger-picture, longer-term concern? As much as we all like a good overreaction, probably not. The Bruins had a one- or two-goal lead in the third period in each of their first six games this season as well. They closed out all of them and got the win. In four of those six games, they extended their lead – two with empty-net goals, two before an extra-attacker situation.
Right now, Thursday looks like the blip on the radar. As long as the Bruins correct their mistakes and don’t let this happen again in their next couple games, it should remain a blip.
“We have to learn from it. That’s all you can do,” Charlie Coyle said. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. It’s a shame that happened, but we learn from it. We move on. Come to work tomorrow, practice, ready to go, and we right the ship the next day.”