The list of reasons the Bruins now trail the Lightning 3-1 and are seemingly drawing their last breaths of the season is long, but these two items are at or near the top: Goaltending that isn't good enough, and a serious lack of discipline.
Never was that more obvious than during a six-minute stretch in the second period Saturday that proved be the Bruins' ultimate undoing in a 3-1 loss.
With the Bruins trailing 1-0 after one, they came out strong in the second period and created numerous chances as they searched for the tying goal, but Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stood tall, making a couple good saves on in-close chances with lots of bodies around the crease.
While the Lightning's goaltending continued to lift them up, the Bruins' once again let them down on a back-breaking goal that made it 2-0. With 7:31 left in the second, Anthony Cirelli dropped a pass to Ondrej Palat, who teed up a slap shot from just inside the blue line with no traffic in front.
Jaroslav Halak had a clear view of the shot and plenty of time to react, and just straight-up missed it with his glove, only managing to get the very edge of his webbing on it but not nearly enough to keep it out of the back of the net.
-- Ondrej Palat - 2nd today2-0 #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/LNjdcTCfrQ
— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) August 29, 2020It was far from the first stoppable shot Halak has let in this postseason, and it was once again his glove hand that proved to be his demise. There were always going to be questions about the goaltending once Tuukka Rask left, and a small downgrade should have been expected, but Halak just hasn't been good enough even with the adjusted expectations.
When Halak struggled in Game 4 of the first round, the Bruins were able to pick him up and come back and win against a Hurricanes team that wasn't up to the challenge. But the Lightning are not the Hurricanes, and overcoming mistakes has been much tougher this series.
The Bruins only made the challenge that much tougher with the second part of this equation: the lack of discipline. Just a minute after Palat's goal, Nick Ritchie lined up Yanni Gourde and threw an extremely late hit that caught Gourde in a vulnerable position and rightly earned Ritchie a five-minute major (and probably should have earned him an ejection too).
YIKES#GoBolts Yanni Gourde down on the ice after this hit by #NHLBruins Nick Ritchie pic.twitter.com/3vsYn0zmFd
— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) August 29, 2020While the Bruins' penalty kill mostly did a good job facing the extended Tampa power play, the Lightning finally made it 3-0 with 1:56 left in the second period when a Victor Hedman shot deflected off Par Lindholm and past Halak.
It was the latest in a long line of undisciplined penalties from the Bruins in this series. Several of those have come from Ritchie, who has proven to be a trade deadline miss that the Bruins spent too much time trying to force into a third-line role in which he didn't fit.
It wasn't even his first bad penalty of Game 4. Earlier in the game, he went after Cedric Paquette after Paquette threw an uncalled questionable hit on Karson Kuhlman. Regardless of whether it was a good or bad hit, Ritchie didn't need to respond with a blatant retaliation penalty -- and he was actually lucky to only get two minutes there instead of five, as he dropped his gloves and threw a couple punches.
Another look at the #GoBolts Cedric Paquette hit on #NHLBruins Karson Kuhlman .. Nick Ritchie takes exception. pic.twitter.com/PExbFPMObo
— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) August 29, 2020Connor Clifton also took a bad penalty Saturday, crosschecking Blake Coleman from behind in the corner for seemingly no reason. That wasn't the first time he had lacked discipline this series either -- a bad interference penalty in Game 2 was likely part of the reason he was a healthy scratch in Game 3.
Add in a bad defensive breakdown on the Lightning's first goal of the game -- when five Bruins got back on defense only to allow Palat to get open right in the middle of their circle -- and an inability to solve Vasilevskiy, and it was all far too much to overcome.
-- Ondrej Palat1-0 #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/eAKEMODiO1
— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) August 29, 2020Jake DeBrusk scored a power-play goal for the Bruins to make it 3-1 with 12:56 left in the game, but again, Tampa Bay is not Carolina, and there was not going to be a furious third-period comeback for Boston this time.
Now the Bruins trail 3-1 in the series, and it's hard to envision them winning three in a row against a team this good, one that isn't making the kinds of mistakes they are.
The end of this season, one that saw them win the Presidents' Trophy and often look like a team that was ready to make another run to the Stanley Cup Final, now appears to be right around the corner, but they will try to start the uphill battle to avoid that end Monday night in Game 5.
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