At numerous points throughout Saturday's game, it looked like the Bruins were going to snap their three-game losing streak. They led the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 late in the second period and 4-3 late in the third period. Instead, they lost 5-4 in overtime, their fourth straight loss, all of them on home ice.
As there were the previous two games, there were some real positives Saturday. The bottom six, quiet since the All-Star break, came roaring to life, scoring all four of the Bruins' goals.
In the end, however, there were too many negatives as Boston just could not close out the game. The Bruins are now 1-3-2 on this homestand, and have just one game left Monday afternoon to try to salvage a second win. It won't be easy, as their opponent for that game is the red-hot Dallas Stars.
Here are six takeaways from a wild Saturday matinee:
Failure to close
The Bruins continue to struggle to close out games. After Saturday's loss, they are now 24-1-6 when leading after two periods. On the one hand, one regulation loss in such situations isn't so bad. On the other hand, the seven total losses when leading after two are tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the most in the NHL. Their .774 winning percentage when leading after two ranks 24th in the NHL, and the eight teams behind them are all out of the playoff picture.
On Saturday, the Bruins led 3-2 after two. The Kings tied the game 5:51 into the third when they beat the Boston defense in transition, with Harvard product Alex Laferriere eventually poking in a loose puck in the crease.
The Bruins retook the lead just 1:21 later on a goal from Trent Frederic, but couldn't hold that lead either. Pavel Zacha took an offensive-zone holding with 3:35 left in the game. The Bruins nearly killed it, but the Kings scored in the final second of it. With their goalie pulled to create a 6-on-4 advantage, Anze Kopitar wound up uncovered at the front of the net and tipped in a Drew Doughty shot as the Bruins' defensive rotation broke down.
The Bruins had a great chance to win the game in overtime, as David Pastrnak drew a penalty with some nifty stickhandling up the middle. They didn't score, though, and Pastrnak then committed the cardinal sin of turning the puck over just as the power play was ending, handing the Kings possession and a game-winning breakaway for Brandt Clarke just as he exited the box.
"We added to our problems today," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "We had breakdowns that shouldn't be happening within our structure, and then also just game management. You gotta close out a game. You're up twice in the third period and we don't close it out. And then in the overtime, our power play's gotta put it away. We didn't."
Rough day for Forbort
There's plenty of blame to go around in this one, but Derek Forbort had a particularly rough day. He committed a turnover behind his own net on the Kings' first goal. He couldn't keep up with Pierre-Luc Dubois in transition on the third. And he had a failed clear up the boards right before the fourth.
It's been a rollercoaster season for Forbort. He started off pretty well, then missed a month and a half due to injury, and has now been a bit inconsistent since returning in late January.
Montgomery continues to play him pretty much every game, opting to have Kevin Shattenkirk and Parker Wotherspoon be the two defensemen rotating in and out as the sixth D.
There are probably several reasons for that. One is that Montgomery has stressed the importance of net-front defense, and Forbort arguably does that better than any other Bruins defenseman – Saturday aside. The Bruins are giving up fewer 5-on-5 high-danger chances with him on the ice than any other Boston D.
Another is that the Bruins need to give Forbort time to get his game back before the March 8 trade deadline so they know exactly what they have on defense. If he can get to where he was at the start of the season, Forbort can be an asset and a mainstay on the third pairing. If he can't, that's a spot the Bruins might have to upgrade.
Saturday was a rough one, though, and it makes you wonder if a game off for Forbort might not be the worst thing right now.
Van Riemsdyk stays hot
James van Riemsdyk had gone a little quiet before the All-Star break, as he went through a 15-game stretch that saw him register one goal and seven assists. A trip to his old stomping grounds in Philadelphia in the last game before the break got him going, though, as he snapped a 10-game goalless drought and also had two assists in that game.
He has kept that going after the break, with his two goals and an assist on Saturday bringing him up to three goals in the last three games and eight points (4 goals, 4 assists) in his last seven.
As he was most of the season before that mini-slump, van Riemsdyk has been producing whether he's been in the top six or on the third line. On Saturday, he skated on the "big boy" version of the third line with Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic, and they opened the scoring when van Riemsdyk backhanded a pass to the front for Frederic, then dug the puck out of a mass of bodies before flipping it past David Rittich.
After the Kings tied the game, van Riemsdyk scored again, this time on the power play. Charlie McAvoy fired a shot from the point that got knocked down in front, and van Riemsdyk pounced on the loose puck and blindly whacked it past Rittich.
That snapped an 0-for-15 drought for the power play over the last four games. While the Bruins liked the way the man advantage was moving the puck the last couple games, they desperately needed to see one go in, and van Riemsdyk made sure they did on Saturday – against the NHL's No. 1 penalty kill, no less.
Van Riemsdyk is now up to 11 goals and 37 points in 51 games this season, as he continues to be an absolute steal at $1 million. He's on pace for 55 points, which would be his most since 2016-17.
Frederic notches Gordie Howe hat trick
Frederic entered Saturday with zero points in five games since the All-Star break. He got going in a big way against the Kings, recording a goal, an assist and a fight.
He assisted on van Riemsdyk's first goal, as it was his drive to the net and shot attempt that produced the rebound for his linemate.
His fight came right after the Kings tied the game 1-1. The Bruins weren't happy that the Kings decided to celebrate the goal right in the Boston crease while Linus Ullmark was trying to get up. Frederic found a willing dance partner in Andreas Englund, and the two went toe-to-toe for a spirited bout that helped keep the building's energy up despite the potentially deflating goal.
Frederic had an even better response to the Kings' game-tying goal in the third, as he drove hard to the net once again and banged home a rebound after van Riemsdyk had set up Geekie for a chance.
The loaded-up third line meant that Danton Heinen skated on the second line with Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle on Saturday. That trio was a little quiet, so some questions remain about what the Bruins' best combinations are, but there's no doubt that the van Riemsdyk-Geekie-Frederic third line was a force on Saturday.
Richard scores his first as a Bruin
The Bruins have been looking for more production and some sort of identity from their fourth line, and they took a step in the right direction Saturday.
Most notably, Anthony Richard scored his first goal as a Bruin midway through the second period. After linemates Jakub Lauko and Jesper Boqvist went to work to dig a puck out of the corner, Richard calmly gathered the puck in front and roofed it.
It was Richard's fourth game since getting called up, and his first point. He has had high-end production in the AHL for the last two seasons, including 38 points in 41 games for Providence this year. The Bruins don't necessarily need or expect that to translate to Boston, but they do want Richard to use his speed and forechecking to create energy.
"He's done a good job of what we've asked," Montgomery said of Richard before Saturday's game. "I think he's winning battles. He's using his speed to create turnovers."
That should be the name of the game for that whole line when it's this combination (Richard-Boqvist-Lauko), and it was on Saturday.
"I think just to create anxiety for the other team," Montgomery said pregame when asked what that line's identity should be. "For that line tonight, the way they're comprised, it's going to be with speed and tenacity."
It was. Now the challenge is to do it again Monday and then the next game after that and provide the Bruins with some fourth-line consistency that's been missing most of the season.
What is goalie interference?
Before the Kings tied the game at 1-1 in the first period, the Bruins appeared to make it 2-0 when David Pastrnak turned and fired a shot past Rittich.
The Kings challenged for goalie interference, though, and after a long review the goal was taken off the board. The reason: Jake DeBrusk had made contact with Rittich and, in the replay official's eyes, had prevented him from making the save.
Watching the replay, though, it certainly looked like DeBrusk got pushed into the crease and into Rittich, and actually made a pretty honest effort to try to avoid contact. Apparently the league didn't agree, though, because if they did the goal would have stood.
Questionable decision aside, what made it all even more annoying was how long the review took. The TD Garden DJ put on Taylor Swift's 10-minute version of "All Too Well" as the review dragged on, and we got through way more of it than any review ever should. Personal opinion: if you have to look at it for that long, unless we're talking about a game-winning goal in the playoffs or something, the call on the ice stands and we keep the game moving.
Would the Bruins have won if that goal had stood? We'll never know, but it certainly would've helped.
For more Bruins talk, be sure to tune in to Sunday Skate with Andrew Raycroft, Scott McLaughlin and Bridgette Proulx, starting this Sunday 9-11 a.m. on WEEI 93.7 FM, WEEI.com, and the Audacy app.
