By: Tom Calautti | Follow me on Twitter @TCalauttis
The Boston Bruins started last night’s game with a 3-0 lead over the division-rival Toronto Maple Leafs. They finished it by allowing three goals in the third period en route to a debilitating 5-4 loss. Here’s how it went down:
Hot Start
The Bruins sent a shockwave through the TD Garden when they opened the scoring just 29 seconds into the game. Mason Lohrei sauced a pass from just inside his defensive blue line right on the tape of David Pastrnak at the offensive blue line. Pastrnak beat Leags goaltender Anthony Stolarz to open the scoring with his 29th goal of the season.
“World-class pass,” said Pastrnak about the feed from Lohrei. “I was surprised it landed right on my stick. It was a world-class pass, and I buried it.”
Boston out-attempted Toronto 25-16, outshot them 15-8, out-chanced them 11-8, and outscored them 2-0. It was arguably Boston’s best period of the season and one of the best starts to a game we’ve seen from this team in a long time.
Power Play Production
Coming into tonight’s game, Boston ranked 30th in the league with a power play percentage of 14.8. In an attempt to fix his ailing man advantage, Head Coach Joe Sacco changed his top unit by moving David Pastrnak to his strong side and Morgan Geekie to the one-timer spot. The results were encouraging.
Boston upped its lead to 2-0 at 13:59 of the first when Pastrnak tried to feed Marchand at the top of the crease. The puck pin-balled around in front, and Marchand buried it for his 21st goal of the season.
The top power-play unit extended the lead to three midway through the second period. Boston put on a tic-tac-toe passing play between Pastrnak and Marchand, which led to a one-time slot chance for Elias Lindholm. His shot ricocheted off Stolarz’s pads onto the stick of Morgan Geekie, who buried it for his 19th goal of the season.
The power play gave Boston a much-needed boost halfway through this game. The Bruins were in a position to snag two points from the Leafs, but they couldn’t close the deal.
Third Period Collapse
Toronto cut the lead to two 13:52 into the second period when Morgan Reilly wired a wrister past Jeremy Swayman from the right circle. Despite that goal, the Bruins played a steady game over the rest of the second.
Then, things changed when Oliver Wahlstrom took an offensive zone penalty with 56 seconds remaining in the middle frame. While starting the third period on the man advantage, Mitch Marner made some nifty toe drags through the slot and snapped a shot over Jeremy Swayman’s right shoulder to cut the lead to 3-2.
“(Toronto) gained some momentum off of (Marner’s power-play goal) and recaptured some of the momentum there,” said Sacco after the game. “We got caught a little bit back on our heels after that. That’s a good offensive team; they’re going to make a push. We just have to keep playing; we have to keep pushing forward there.”
Nick Robertson tied the game a little over five minutes later. The energy was completely sucked out of TD Graden until David Pastrnak came in to save the day. After he recovered a loose puck near the goal line, he dangled to the front of the net and roofed a wrister past Stolarz.
With less than ten minutes remaining in the game, Boston should’ve been able to hold off the Leafs and secure two points…but they couldn’t. The Bruins did a decent job keeping Toronto out of the prime scoring areas until under a minute left when Pontus Holmberg found a loose puck in front and lifted it past Swayman.
“It seems like right now, anytime we make a mistake, it’s going to end up in the back of the net, so we just have to limit them,” said Marchand. “We gotta be tight in our (defensive zone), take care of the slot…then we’ll be okay.”
Boston salvaged a point, dragging the game to overtime, but Mitch Marner ended it with a beautiful breakaway deke to beat Swayman and secure the victory. Boston gets back on the ice Thursday at the Garden against the New York Islanders.
Game Notes
- David Pastrnak’s second goal of the game was his 30th of the season, his eighth 30-goal campaign of his career. That ties him with Phil Esposito and Rick Middleton for the longest in Bruins history.
- With two goals and an assist last night, Pastrnak now holds the longest point streak in the NHL this season with production in 15 straight games.
- With an assist on Geekie’s powerplay goal, Elias Lindholm has 11 points in his last 15 games.
- Mason Lohrei finished with two assists on the night. He still has work to do defensively, but his offensive tools are starting to shine through.
- Trent Frederic left the game in the second period after taking a hit in the corner. Joe Sacco had no update on his status after the game.
- Morgan Geekie now has a new career-high 19 goals.
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