By: Andrew Bluestein | Follow Me On Twitter / X @adbblue
After a two-week break for the Four Nations tournament, the Boston Bruins returned to TD Garden ice Saturday night against the Anaheim Ducks. The Black and Gold dropped their third straight game, suffering a 3-2 overtime loss.Ā
Too many early mistakes and a sloppy final few minutes of the opening period put the Bruins in a tough spot. They could tie the game late, but a lack of finishing their chances did them in. Head coach Joe Sacco touched on playing from behind following the loss. “You spot a team a two-goal lead, I don’t care; in this league, it’s hard to play catch up.”
First Period
The Bruins came out a little slow and didn’t register their first shot on net until the 15:30 mark of the opening frame. Jeremy Swayman had to make three important stops in the early going. Boston eventually found their legs and had a flurry of high-dangerous chances, but they couldn’t solve John Gibson.
With 2:33 to go, the Ducks struck first when Trevor Zegeas finished off a two-on-one to make it 1-0. Then, with 0:38 left, Frank Vatrano tapped in a puck to give his team a 2-0 lead. The fans let the Bruins know their displeasure by booing them off the ice, which Elias Lindholm spoke about post-game. “We come into the locker room, everyone’s pissed off. We want to be better. We deserved to be booed.”
Second Period
Boston received the game’s first power play at 16:35 but was unsuccessful. The Bruins got their second chance on the man advantage. With 1:32 left on that power play, Anaheim took their third tripping penalty, giving the Black and Gold a two-man advantage.
They cashed in when Elias Lindholm cut the lead in half, squeaking one through Gibson to make it 2-1. David Pastrnak recorded an assist on the goal, extending his point streak to 14 games. With 5:30 left, the Ducks took another tripping penalty, their 4th, but the Bruins couldn’t capitalize. With just under 2:00 to play, Anaheim got their first power play of the game.
Third Period and Overtime
The Bruins killed it off with only 0:13 remaining on the power play. Anaheim’s backup goalie, Lukas Dostal, entered the game to start the third period, with Gibson leaving with an apparent injury. After crashing hard into the boards, Brad Marchand was slow to get up and would head to the dressing room, but he eventually returned.
With 1:11 remaining and the goalie pulled, it appeared the Morgan Geekie had tied the game 2-2; however, the call on the ice was goaltender interference and waived off. But after the officials reviewed it, the goal was deemed good, and the 2-2 score stood. The game went to overtime. After some back-and-forth action, Leo Carlson scored, giving the Ducks a victory.
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