Jim Montgomery wasn't sounding the alarm after his Boston Bruins team blew a third-period lead and lost to the Minnesota Wild in overtime on Tuesday. In fact, when asked about it after the game, he pointed out that they're not alone.
"It's happening all over the league. I watched it happen twice last night sitting on my couch," Montgomery said.
True. Other teams are also blowing leads. But the Bruins are doing it more often than other top teams, and that's a fact that's getting harder to ignore.
In three of their last four games, the Bruins have let a third-period lead slip away and gone on to lose in overtime. They have now lost five games that they've led after two periods, tied for the most in the NHL.
One counter to that, and a point that Montgomery has made a couple times this season, is that the Bruins have had more leads than most teams, so they naturally have more opportunities to blow leads.
That is also true, but even on a winning percentage basis, the Bruins aren't faring well. Their 13-1-4 record when leading after two gives them a .722 winning percentage in such situations, which ranks 28th in the NHL. The only four teams worse than them are the New York Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets, Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks – three non-playoff teams and one fringe playoff team.
The Bruins still have the second-best record in the NHL, but a look around at some other top teams shows that they've been much better at closing out games than Boston has. The Vancouver Canucks are 18-0-0 when leading after two periods. The Los Angeles Kings are 14-0-1. The Florida Panthers 13-0-1, the Colorado Avalanche 13-1-0, the Toronto Maple Leafs 12-0-1, the Vegas Golden Knights 14-1-1.
Last year, the Bruins were an absurd 47-1-2 for the season when leading after two. Maybe that's not a fair comparison. Everyone knew this year's Bruins were going to have some growing pains after so much turnover, and learning how to finish games is part of that. But it's not something that should just be shrugged off.
David Pastrnak, who scored twice Tuesday, wasn't shrugging it off.
"It's a terrible loss. I'm pissed," Pastrnak said. "We should win these games, especially when they're on a back-to-back. We were the better team. But credit to them. They stuck with it and got the win. It's a tough loss for us."
Montgomery identified a couple areas that broke down in the third period.
"Slot area and the net-front," he said. "We're just not closing quick enough when they went out high. I didn't think our wings closed quick enough. Urgency probably was the biggest thing."
All accurate. Both of the Wild's third-period goals, which were scored just 1:58 apart, started with unchallenged shots from the point and ended with uncovered forwards burying rebounds or loose pucks in front. On the first, Jake Middleton's initial shot hit the crossbar, and Brandon Carlo couldn't tie up Kirill Kaprizov's stick on the rebound. On the second, Brock Faber's initial shot got blocked, but Charlie McAvoy couldn't clear away the loose puck and Matt Grzelcyk lost track of goal-scorer Ryan Hartman.
Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark blamed himself, and then quickly turned the page.
"I'm letting in too many goals obviously," Ullmark said. "Can't do that as many times as I've done now. It's been frustrating. It's not something you want to do obviously. But life is life. Hockey's hockey. Hakuna matata. And that's it."
That might be a good mindset for a goalie, but this isn't it for the Bruins as a team, and these blown leads should create at least some worry for the rest of their days.
There were some positives Tuesday, too. The Bruins did create a lot of chances of their own, and may have won in regulation if not for a stellar performance from Marc-Andre Fleury in the Minnesota net. Most importantly, they mounted their own comeback after falling behind 3-2, tying the game with 1:06 left in regulation when Brad Marchand pulled the puck out of a mad scramble in front of Fleury and flipped it into the net. They at least came away with one point as a result.
Unfortunately for them, overtime continues to be another issue in these late-game struggles. The Bruins simply have not been good in the 3-on-3 extra session. Tuesday was their sixth overtime loss this season, the most in the NHL. Their minus-4 goal differential in OT is the worst in the league. If they were better in overtime, it might cover up at least a couple of those blown leads, but they're not.
They continue to make poor decisions with the puck in such situations, seemingly just not valuing possession as much as their opponents. On Tuesday, they won the opening faceoff, but a miscommunication between Hampus Lindholm and Jake DeBrusk killed that possession. Marchand losing a battle ended another, and actually led to a Matt Boldy breakaway that Ullmark turned aside.
The nail in the coffin was an ill-advised and wildly off-target shot from DeBrusk that led to a 3-on-1 the other way and a game-winning goal for Kaprizov.
"You've got to get that on net. I don't like the shot selection," Montgomery said. "And I don't like both guys going to the net going all the way to the goal line. That's what gives up the 3-on-1 the other way. In 3-on-3, our game management wasn't great."
The Bruins clearly still have some things to learn when it comes to late-game situations. Pastrnak, still pissed about the loss, did conclude his postgame media availability on a more optimistic note, saying he's confident this team will eventually learn the lessons they need to.
"We're a much younger team than the last couple years. Everyone's buying in. Everyone wants to learn," Pastrnak said. "Sometimes when a team gets so much younger in a year, it's gonna take time. But the positive and the beauty of this group is everybody wants to learn. Like in your life, in hockey every day you have to learn from somebody. You can keep learning forever, and everyone's willing to learn. We all have something to give each other, and that's the beauty of it. We are communicating together and trying to make each other better."
