The Bruins blew a third-period lead and ended up in overtime. No, this isn’t an old story from Saturday or Wednesday or last weekend.
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It happened again Monday night. The Bruins led Seattle 2-1 after 40 minutes. Then an all-too-familiar story played out: they got blitzed right from puck drop in the third period, couldn’t get out of their own zone, and soon gave up the game-tying goal.
The Kraken eventually took a 3-2 lead. Boston, to its credit, fought back to tie the game and force overtime. But then Seattle won in a shootout, 4-3.
The Bruins have now gone to overtime in six straight games. They have blown a third-period lead in four of them. They have gone nine games without a regulation win, compiling a record of 2-2-5 since Feb. 10. They are now 25-1-8 when leading after two periods. Their nine losses in such situations are the most in the NHL and their .735 winning percentage ranks 28th, better than only the Islanders, Blackhawks, Sharks and Blue Jackets.
Blowing leads feels like a fait accompli for the Bruins right now. It shouldn’t be, but they just cannot seem to fix this problem. Here are five reasons it keeps happening:
Too much time in the defensive zone
The feeling of impending doom set in right as the third period began Monday night. The Kraken came out desperate, the Bruins couldn’t match their intensity, and the whole game was suddenly being played in the Boston end.
The Kraken landed the first nine shots on goal of the period. The Bruins didn’t get their first until 6:38 in. By that point, Seattle had already tied the game.
It was the same story on Saturday, when the Canucks outshot the Bruins 17-5 in the third period en route to erasing a two-goal lead. And on Wednesday, when the Oilers outshot Boston 12-1 during an eight-minute stretch of the third period that saw them also overcome a two-goal deficit.
To an extent, the trailing team outshooting the leading team and getting more offensive-zone time is natural. They’re the more desperate team. They’re going to take more chances than the team defending the lead.
But the Bruins are having more trouble alleviating pressure than most. When leading this season, they have a Corsi-for percentage (percentage of shot attempts) of 43.2%. That ranks 22nd in the NHL, and 14th out of the 16 teams currently in the playoffs. The only two playoff teams getting pinned in more while trying to protect leads are the Rangers and Red Wings. Most of the teams you would consider contenders are near the top of the league. The Hurricanes, Kings, Panthers and Oilers are all actually over 50%. The Avalanche, Canucks and Jets all rank in the top 10, too.
The takeaway: Most of the other top teams in the NHL standings are doing a much better job than Boston at sustaining at least some offensive-zone time and maintaining an attack while protecting a lead. The Bruins are bending too much and, especially recently, breaking.
Net-front defense
On the Kraken’s third goal Monday, Oliver Bjorkstrand went to the front of the net, found a soft spot between Matt Grzelcyk and Brandon Carlo, and tipped in Will Borgen’s shot from the point.
It was a familiar sight. Brock Boeser gained inside position on the Canucks’ final two goals Saturday, setting a screen on one and scoring himself on the other. On the Oilers’ final two goals on Wednesday, Corey Perry beat Derek Forbort for a deflection and rebound on one, and Zach Hyman out-muscled Mason Lohrei for a rebound on the other. On the Kings’ tying goal last Saturday, Anze Kopitar ended up all alone in front for a tip-in.
This, too, has been an area where the Bruins just have not been good enough this season. They rank 22nd in high-danger chances allowed per 60 minutes. Of the 16 current playoff teams, they rank 15th, with only the Rangers giving up more.
Coach Jim Montgomery knows net-front defense is an issue. It’s the one aspect of the Bruins’ game he has consistently highlighted as an area they need to improve. And yet, it’s not improving. Personnel changes may be required. Whether those come before the March 8 trade deadline or have to wait until the summer remains to be seen.
Goaltending
Here’s one we’re not used to talking about as an issue. Since the All-Star break, though, the Bruins’ vaunted goalie duo has not met its usually high standard. Jeremy Swayman has a .904 save percentage in his last six games. Linus Ullmark is at .903 in his last five.
That’s league-average goaltending since the break. The Bruins expect and need better than league-average goaltending given what they’ve invested at the position and how their team is built. They’ve obviously gotten it most of the season, but not recently.
On Monday, Ullmark gave away one goal when he tried to clear the puck up the middle but instead fired it right into Seattle’s Jordan Eberle. He also got beat under the glove on a stoppable shot from defenseman Vince Dunn on the Kraken’s second goal. In his last start in Calgary on Thursday, he got beat on another long shot on one goal and gave up a leaky rebound on another.
Swayman’s worst game of this stretch came Wednesday in Edmonton. One goal came on a point shot that trickled behind him, another came on a juicy rebound off a point shot, and another came on a stuff attempt in close that got under him.
As we’ve already established, the Bruins concede too much zone time and too many high-danger chances. They aren’t making things easy on Ullmark and Swayman. Nonetheless, the goalies haven’t been at their usual high level either, and we might not be talking about so many blown leads recently if they were.
Faceoffs
Trent Frederic cleanly loses a defensive-zone faceoff to Yanni Gourde. Andre Burakovsky gathers the puck on the right side of the zone and takes it to the middle without any Bruin getting out to challenge him. Morgan Geekie gets caught on an island in the slot and tries to step up on Burakovsky, leaving acres of space behind him for defenseman Vince Dunn to take a pass from Burakovsky and walk into the left circle, where he then snaps the game-tying goal past Ullmark.
Another familiar sight. Both of Vancouver’s third-period goals on Saturday also came off defensive-zone faceoffs that the Bruins lost cleanly. Those two came at Pavel Zacha’s expense.
The Bruins have not been a good faceoff team this season. They rank 17th in the NHL at 49.6%. Zacha (54.0%) and Charlie Coyle (52.2%) are the only players on the active roster over 50%. Johnny Beecher (53.9%) has been in Providence since mid-January.
The irony is that Monday was actually one of their best games at the dot overall (64.6%), and statistically defensive-zone draws have not been a huge problem on the whole this season (they rank seventh in the NHL at 52.4% on D-zone faceoffs). But some key losses recently have certainly proved costly.
A big reason for that is that the Bruins aren’t just losing the faceoff; they’re losing it cleanly, then they’re taking bad routes and not pressuring the puck, and then they’re leaving someone open in shooting position. They have to find a way to at least create a tie-up situation or apply more pressure after the faceoff; don’t let the opponent execute a set play.
Too many forwards have gone quiet
David Pastrnak made plays Monday night. He scored the Bruins’ first two goals and set up the third. Charlie Coyle scored his third goal in the last three games. Fourth-liners Jesper Boqvist, Anthony Richard and Justin Brazeau have done their part recently; Boqvist has six points in the last six games after assisting on Pastrnak’s first goal.
The rest of the Bruins’ forward corps? More is needed. Brad Marchand has one goal in the last nine games. Pavel Zacha has none in the last nine. Jake DeBrusk, one in the last 13. Trent Frederic, two in the last 12. Morgan Geekie, two in the last 22. Danton Heinen, one in the last nine. James van Riemsdyk, zero points in the last five.
That’s just not good enough production from your top nine. If the Bruins were getting more from even a couple of those guys right now, they might be able to extend more of these leads and not be in so many one-goal games that come down to the wire.
General manager Don Sweeney would love to add another scorer before the March 8 trade deadline. Whether he’ll be able to with his limited assets and limited cap space is a different story.