When the Bruins bounced back from a two-goal deficit to send Monday’s game into overtime, it seemed like they were on the cusp of taking a two-game lead in their second-round series with the New York Islanders, but that all changed with one bad bounce of the puck.
The Bruins’ hopes of winning came crashing down when a pass at the point from Jeremy Lauzon bounced off the skate of Charlie Coyle near the blueline, allowing Casey Cizikas to end the game with a breakaway goal.
Lauzon’s mistake to fire the puck across the blue line rather than wrap it down the boards or wait on making the pass directly led to the Islanders tying the series at one game apiece. For that reason, that specific play garnered a lot of attention from Bruins fans and media, but both the Bruins’ players and coaching staff that responded didn't see any reason to linger on it.
“S*** happens,” Brad Marchand said after the Game 2 loss.
“It's a fluke play. He tries to make a play, it goes off a skate. That stuff happens in hockey, so we’re not concerned about it. Again, we just have to worry about the next game, it’s all about how we bounce back as a group.
“Nobody’s perfect in this game," Marchand continued. "We all make mistakes every single night, we probably make a mistake every shift. That's how it goes. Sometimes they end up in your net, sometimes they don't."
Coach Bruce Cassidy explained the one simple thing Lauzon can do to avoid replicating his costly mistake:
“We’ll go D-to-D high, we did it a lot. We got a lot of good offense from it tonight, but his partner wasn't there. So he just has to look, you have to survey the ice," Cassidy said.
“There are set plays for us that we run but there has to be a player there, so you have to look, and usually you look first, and that’s some of the learning curve for younger guys."
Rather than take out frustrations, the Bruins’ philosophy is to rebuild confidence in teammates that make mistakes, Marchand explained.
"We’re just there to back each other up. It's kind of what we’ve always done in this room, is we stand up for one another.”
And it wasn't just the Lauzon failed pass that led to the Islanders' game-winning goal that could be considered an unlucky play for the Bruins. There were several occasions that the puck didn't bounce their way.
For example, the Islanders first got on the board when a pass by Josh Bailey hit Lauzon’s skate and slid under Tuukka Rask to tie the game 1-1 in the second period. On another play late in the third, Bruins defenseman Mike Reilly had the puck come to him as he broke his stick and he was then assessed a penalty for playing with a broken stick.
“They're a good team, they're going to have their pushes, a couple of bad breaks on a few of their goals and that's hockey though," Charlie Coyle said. "It’s a game of inches and sometimes you get bad breaks and that's the way it goes sometimes. It's how you respond. We have to respond now and get the next one, that’s all.
“It's our resiliency. There's never any quit in here.”
Coyle added: “We prepare for that next one playing in their building and we’re going to be excited, ready to go and have some adjustments as well, but we’ll be ready to go.”
The Bruins have two days off to watch film and work on the adjustments that they want to make before Game 3 on Long Island on Thursday night.
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