Prior to Thursday night, the Bruins had not lost in regulation when scoring first this season and had not lost in regulation when leading after two periods.
Both of those streaks are now over, as is their 10-game winning streak. The Bruins led 2-0 after the first period, but allowed the Oilers to slowly chip away, cutting Boston’s lead to 2-1 by the end of the second and then scoring twice in the third to hand the Bruins a stunning -- at least by their standards -- 3-2 loss at TD Garden.
This wasn’t some sort of inevitable Connor McDavid takeover either. The Bruins actually held the Edmonton superstar off the score sheet. It would be hard to get too worked up over the defense in general.
The Oilers’ first goal came after Matt Grzelcyk unfortunately lost an edge, lost the puck and handed the Oilers a 4-on-1. The second came off an extremely rare Patrice Bergeron turnover, which coach Jim Montgomery said was “the first time I’ve seen him make a mistake.” The third was a shot from the point that Jeremy Swayman just couldn’t pick up through a screen.
The bigger problem for the Bruins was at the offensive end. They didn’t do nearly enough to add to their lead, at either 2-0 or 2-1. After registering six high-danger chances in the first period, according to Natural Stat Trick, they had just three over the final 40 minutes. They got too cute and passed up some good looks, they settled for too many shots from the outside, and they didn’t get enough traffic to the net.
“We passed up too many opportunities to push the lead,” Montgomery said. “We were a very non-competitive team offensively tonight, I guess is the best way to say it.”
Obviously, that has not been a season-long issue. The Bruins are top 10 in the NHL in score- and venue-adjusted scoring chances and high-danger chances this season, and they’re fourth in high-danger goals scored. But it has cropped up at times, and it certainly bit them Thursday night.
Montgomery, always looking for teaching moments even amid all this winning, hopes his team will learn from what went wrong Thursday.
“Turning down shots, not driving to hard areas, not winning enough battles to create O-zone time. So, it was a good lesson for us to learn because they played well,” Montgomery said. “…We sat back at times. Where we should've been pushing the envelope, we were sealing the envelope.”
The Bruins have taken pride in extending leads and killing opponents’ comebacks before they could even start. Slip-ups are going to happen, especially when the Bruins are so far ahead in the standings and facing teams that, unlike them, desperately need every point they can get.
But they don’t want to let any bad habits creep in or have their play slip in the final month before the playoffs. There was nothing worth panicking about Thursday night, but Bergeron echoed Montgomery’s call to learn from the blown lead and not allow themselves to let up going forward.
“I think we’ve always been pretty good at staying on our toes and staying hungry and keep pushing. I think tonight was an example where we let them get back in the game, and they’re too good offensively to let that happen,” Bergeron said.
“I think we’ve been good at finding ways to get that third goal and get that extra lead and that cushion. But that’s the type of hockey we’re gonna get down the stretch, and we have to learn from that and find ways to play in those tight-checking games. And we have. But I think we have to learn from that third and be better.”
The Bruins will get a chance to bounce back in a home-and-home weekend series against the Red Wings, with Saturday’s game capping off a four-game home stand and Sunday’s kicking off a five-game road trip.