By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter / XĀ @RyanJBosworth
The Boston Bruins were back in TD Garden tonight for their second of a two-game weekend. Coming off a 5-4 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks, the Bruins were looking to right the ship and avoid losing three games in a row. With a record of 20-15-1 and sitting in fourth in the Atlantic Division coming into tonight’s contest, points are crucial right now.
The Ottawa Senators, also coming into TD Garden to play the second of a two-game weekend, are riding a three-game win streak heading into tonight’s game. Sitting just back of Boston in the Atlantic Division standings, points are just as important to them as they are to Boston.
First Period
The first period in tonight’s matchup was anything but what the Bruins wanted. From bad passes, sloppy puck handling, they were in their own way for the entire period. Allowing Ottawa to open the scoring less than two minutes in and on just their third shot of the game, Boston was playing from behind very early in this one. Drake Batherson tucked one top-shelf at just 1:30 of the first.
It wouldn’t stop there, as Ottawa would go on to get their second of the opening frame at just 13:44. Claude Giroux put home a rebound that Joonas Korpisalo just wasn’t able to hold on to. Drake Batherson had the primary assist, and Dylan Cozens had his second secondary assist of the evening.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t stop at 2-0. Fabian Zetterlund cashed in on the power play, putting Ottawa up 3-0. With just three seconds remaining on the Senator’s power play, Zetterlund received a pass from Thomas Chabot, walked in towards Korpisalo and found a tiny opening just above his shoulder.
The Bruins would respond in the final minute of the first frame, on the power play. David Pastrnak, who received the initial pass from Charlie McAvoy at the point, fed it down-low to Pavel Zacha, who would feed it back to Pastrnak just a second later, who was just above the face-off dot, waiting for the one-timer. Pastrnak would catch Linus Ullmark lacking on the far side, cutting Ottawa’s lead to two at 19:07.
Second Period
The issues that plagued the Bruins in the first frame continued plaguing them in the second frame. Falling to a four-goal deficit, with a score of 6-2 Ottawa, the Bruins found a way to give more momentum to Ottawa than they gave in the first. Ottawa put up three goals in the second, with the first coming from Tim Stutzle, assisted by Brady Tkachuk and Fabian Zetterlund.
Ottawa would tack on another goal after this one, just 19 seconds later. This goal, which would make things 5-1 at TD Garden, would also call game for Bruins’ netminder Joonas Korpisalo. Jeremy Swayman, now playing in his fifth game in a row, slotted in for Korpisalo between the pipes.
The goal, coming from Dylan Cozens, assisted by Drake Batherson and David Perron, came from Ottawa capitalizing on Boston’s poor puck handling in their own zone. Sean Kuraly, with a defensive zone turnover, gave the puck away to Cozens, who’d find his way to covering on the point and would hammer home a one-timer to extend the lead.
After Swayman took the crease, the Bruins would score their second of the night, thanks to a Charlie McAvoy shot, his first of the season, that squeezed through Linus Ullmark’s five-hole. The three-goal deficit would be short lived, as Ottawa would add another goal, putting them up 6-2. Fabian Zetterlund would get his second power play goal of the evening, assisted by Stephen Halliday and Claude Giroux.
Third Period
At this point, the wheels had already fallen off, and things didn’t improve any in the third period. Neither team would score in the third, but the momentum. remained all in Ottawa’s corner. The chipiness within the game continued to increase, with Mark Kastelic and Kurtis MacDermid dropping the mitts at 8:18 of the period. Kastelic, attempting to give the Bruins some life, was ultimately unsuccessful in doing so.
The final minute of the game would see a lot of scrappy action. Nikita Zadorov and Dylan Cozens were both given ten-minute misconducts, David Pastrnak dropped the gloves with Ridly Greig, and Pavel Zacha attempted to go with Nick Jensen, but was unsuccessful.
In what was a very poor performance by the Bruins, who have now lost three straight, there’s clear action that needs to be taken ahead of their final game before the Christmas break, coming up on Tuesday, December 23rd: they need to start on time. They’ve struggled with it all season, and tonight was no exception.
Points are crucial right now, and with how tight the Eastern Conference playoff race is right now, the Bruins can’t afford to give any points away, especially to divisional rivals. If they continue on this trajectory, they’ll start falling faster than they’ll be able to recover from, just as we saw last season.
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