The Bruins' first line was reunited on Tuesday night with Brad Marchand back in the lineup after a false-positive test landed him in COVID protocol. Boston was hoping a healthier core with Marchand and Brandon Carlo back on the ice would give the team the firepower it needed to turn the corner and grab a win over New Jersey.
They ultimately did, but several mistakes on defense made the task of grabbing any points against the Devils difficult. Though the Bruins were able to come back from a two-goal deficit in the third period and take a 5-4 win in the shootout, it shouldn't have been that hard.
The Bruins didn't lack the chances to score and were creating quality opportunities offensively. It was a combination of miscues by the Bruins' defense that put them in a hole to begin with, one they can't expect to climb out of against better teams going forward.
Despite the Bruins outshooting the Devils in every period, and finishing with a 48-35 lead in shots overall, they trailed New Jersey for all but four minutes of regulation.
"It was a real struggle for us at the other end. Our first touch tonight was probably as poor as it's been all year and it led to some goals against," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said after the shootout win. "It's nice when you can learn lessons when you get two points. We were able to outscore our mistakes tonight."
The most costly of those breakdowns included two turnovers by Jeremy Lauzon that led directly to two goals by Devils forwards. A bad pass by Lauzon on a failed clear up the middle gave Wood a wide open scoring chance, which he capitalized on to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead 1:28 into the first period.
Then, in the second, about a minute after Marchand cut the Devils' lead to 3-2, Lauzon had another giveaway in the Bruins end on a defensive zone faceoff that resulted in a freebie goal for Kyle Palmieri.
Cassidy had a message for his young defensemen about their struggles turning the puck over in their own end.
"The message was, especially if you're going to go up the middle of the ice in the National Hockey League, you need to be clean," Cassidy said. "You need to be on the tape, you need to be assertive, you need to be sure. If you're not clean you're going to get somebody hurt, like for example the first play of Lauzon up to Bergy -- it's in his feet, it's a slow roller, that's a dangerous hockey play."
That statement was followed by a message for the youth of his team in general:
"When you're a young player in the National Hockey League, you're given an opportunity to play here," Cassidy said. "When things go a little bit awry we cannot rely on Brad Marchand to bring us energy in terms of physicality. Or we should not have to. Brad's a leader and good for him for trying to get a spark, but that's where the Lauzons can make up for it, a Clifton, a Zboril, a Kuhlman, a Senyshyn, a Frederic, a Blidh. You know we need those guys to sort of turn the tide of a game with some physicality, some energy, something to get the bench excited"
The Bruins' fourth line forwards Anton Blidh, Trent Frederic and Karson Kuhlman, who are all without significant NHL experience, were on the ice for two of the Devils' four goals and did little to provide that physicality and spark Cassidy was looking for.
"As a staff I think I have to spell it out better for them, but I think Freddy was doing a lot of that earlier in the year and he's gotten away from it a little bit," Cassidy said. "And those other guys that are trickling into the lineup, in and out, you know you take an NHL player like Wagner out to give other guys an opportunity, they have to recognize in games like tonight how they can impact the game."
Charlie Coyle explained how the Bruins overcame their early defensive breakdowns to take away two crucial points in the East Division.
"When you're younger, first couple of years in the league, you learn a lot. And it starts with leadership and then it trickles down," Coyle said. "There's going to be mistakes, whether it's young guys, old guys, whoever it is, it's how we come back, it's how we pump each other back up."
"Every point is crucial from here on out, we know our division and the teams in the mix. We want to make sure we get every point we can here, we can't let it slip away."
The Bruins remain in fourth place in the East Division and are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games. They have just 24 games remaining in the regular season.
It's hard to see the Bruins having success if they continue to put themselves in a similar position as they did against the Devils.
"We got through it, but I'm not sure it's going to work against Pittsburgh," Cassidy said.
