The Bruins probably should have come away with at least one point Wednesday night in Anaheim. They were the better 5-on-5 team through two periods. They won the special teams battle thanks to a pair of power-play goals. They came back from 3-1 down to tie the game in the third period.
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But, the Bruins didn’t get a point. Because they fell apart in the final 10 minutes and eventually conceded the winning goal with 3:35 left in regulation, falling to the Ducks 4-3.
Unfortunately for Boston, this has been a common story this season: Giving up late winners instead of being able to get games to overtime. And it’s one that could prove costly for a team that’s trying to hang in a crowded Eastern Conference playoff race for as long as possible.
The Bruins have now surrendered the winning goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation five times this season. They did so in three straight games during their six-game losing streak in October, including in their first game against the Ducks on Oct. 23. They did it in Ottawa last week, and now in Anaheim.
In four of those five games, they had come back to tie the game in the third period, something you would normally expect to swing momentum in their favor. Instead, the Bruins have either let up or run out of gas after scoring those tying goals.
On Wednesday night, the Ducks outshot the Bruins 8-1 in the 8:46 of game action between Morgan Geekie’s tying goal and Ian Moore’s winner. That go-ahead goal could have come even earlier if not for several excellent, point-blank saves from Joonas Korpisalo.
The Bruins just got way too sloppy and started making mistakes in their own end. Mason Lohrei had a couple rough defensive-zone turnovers, as did Jonathan Aspirot. On Moore’s goal, Alex Steeves missed a shot block and inadvertently screened Korpisalo instead. Boston looked like the team that had just given up the lead and was scrambling to recover, not the other way around.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm did not see the defensive commitment and composure that the situation called for.
“I don't care if you have twice the amount of shots or chances like that, but if you can't defend or don't want to defend, then you're gonna end up with a game like today,” Sturm told NESN.
“There was no reason actually to panic,” he added. “But we had some just bad mistakes, especially in the last five, six minutes, right even before they scored the goal. We just have to manage it better, and we have to learn from it.”
They do, because it’s not too early to be lamenting missed opportunities. With Wednesday’s loss, the Bruins slipped to sixth in the Atlantic Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage (.545). Their 10 regulation losses are the most in the conference.
Getting just two or three of these types of games to overtime would have them on the better side of the playoff bubble. The other frustrating part of this for the Bruins is that they’ve actually been great when they do get to overtime, winning all four of their games that have been decided in overtime or a shootout this season.
They just have to figure out how to get more games there instead of letting them slip away late in regulation, like they did for a fifth time on Wednesday.