Now that I’m about forty hours removed from the heartbreak that was the Bruins’ worst loss of the season thus far, as well as a 4-0 blown-lead-induced-hangover that has finally gone away, I finally can produce a coherent rant consisting of more than just slamming on my keyboard with cap locks on and the words “CHARLIE MCAVOY SCORE CHALLENGE.”
First and foremost let me just say, what the heck? Coming off another brutal shootout loss Sunday night against the Flyers, Tuesday night really felt like the turnaround point to snap the Bruins’ losing streak. After Sunday night’s loss, Patrice Bergeron told the media if the team just played their game the way they did in the third period against the Flyers for the full 60 minutes, essentially most of their recent troubles would be solved (barring injuries of course). And in the first period Tuesday, it looked like the Bruins were doing just that. Particularly the defense, who has looked rather suspect lately, came in strong in the first period giving the Panthers very little chances in the zone to make anything happen. Also shout out to the TD Garden lights that randomly went out right as the Panthers took a shot on goal. That now gives the lights a 1.00 SV% and 0.00 GAA. Very impressive. Anyways, while the Bruins’ offense also missed out on some scoring chances in the first period ending the period 0-0, things picked up in the second.
Of course by “picked up” I mean a casual 4-goal period. First there was Pasta who ended his long and gruesome three-goalless-games drought with a no-look 16th goal of the season at 11:55 in the 2nd, opening up the game. Joakim Nordstrom followed shortly after with his second goal of the season assisted by Charlie Coyle. A few minutes after that, the Bruins went on the power play and Anders Bjork gave the B’s a nice cushion of 3-0 with just a little over 3 minutes left in the period. To top it off, our beloved captain and king Chara sealed the deal with 29 seconds left in the period, with his third goal of the season and one heck of a celly. A Pasta goal, a lot of secondary scoring, AND a Chara celly? Needless to say, the energy in the Garden was high after the second period. “THE BRUINS ARE SO BACK,” she thought to herself.
Narrator cuts over: As it turns out, the Bruins were not back. I repeat my earlier statement: What. The. Heck. WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! In the previous few games, the Bruins looked more put together in the third period than any other, as Bergeron noted. Suddenly it’s like the entire team forgot how to play hockey and the worst part is, I’m not even exaggerating about that. Ugly defense, ugly work in the net by Rask, sloppy penalties, and an uninspired offensive effort bit the B’s in the butt to say the least. A mere 50 seconds into the third period, Aaron Ekblad reminded us the Panthers were still alive and then it was all downhill from there. A few more soft goals later, Keith Yandle tied it up and somehow a once 4-0 game was off to overtime. Suddenly, the energy in the Garden was mostly one just filled with a lot of expletives and binge drinking. It's no secret the Bruins have been less than impressive in overtime this season to say the least. And man what a brutal OT it was. Both Charlie Coyle and Charlie McAvoy had some PRIME scoring opportunities in those 5 minutes and man you hate to be the "SHOOT THE PUCK" guy, but I think just about everybody in the crowd was that guy. As the founder and president of the "Charlie McAvoy Score Challenge," a movement I don't believe needs an explanation, it pains me to see McAvoy's lack of confidence on the ice. Yeah he's no Ray Bourque, but he has a lot more in him than he's shown us so far this season. Just this morning Bruce Cassidy told the media, 'I believe Charlie (McAvoy) has more to give," per Conor Ryan of the Boston Sports Journal. Cassidy can change up McAvoy's role and pairing on the ice as many times as he wants, but especially in Tuesday night's OT it became very evident McAvoy's issue is more of a mental thing than anything else, after he passed up on some key scoring chances. Once he gets over this mental hump, I believe he'll be meeting all the standards that have been set for him. McAvoy has taken a beating lately from both the media and fans, and while yes he isn't playing to his full potential, the defense as a whole has been slacking, McAvoy is just an easy scapegoat as a top defenseman who just signed a contract extension.
Of course while rather piss poor defense in the third did nothing to help the Bruins, Tuukka Rask had a ROUGH night in goal. With very few shots taken on him in the first two periods, at the end of the day the Bruins' meltdown came down to Rask. Always accountable, Rask took full blame for the loss and though it never is entirely on the goalie, it's very obvious he did not look like himself in the net. Most notably, he was letting up a lot of soft goals. It seemed as if he wasn't seeing the puck correctly. Even with a couple solid saves in OT, it looks like Halak is going to need to aid the B's with some quality starts to come.
I'm not even going to get into the shootout for two reasons. The first being, I HATE THE SHOOTOUT. H-A-T-E HATE IT. Give me double overtime or give me death (not actually, while I do feel very passionately about this, it's not that serious). The second reason of course is the Bruins STINK in shootout. Complain all you want about sending out guys like Wagner and McAvoy, but the truth is none of the Bruins have stellar numbers in the shootout. As a matter of fact, in 3 shootouts this season, the only goal scored by a Bruins' player was Charlie Coyle's the other night. So yeah, there really is no cheat code when it comes to the shootout for the Bruins. Tuesday's loss is not a result of a consistently bad shootout performance.
Tuesday night's game was the Bruins to win, and sloppy third period play and a weak overtime effort caused them to cough up a 4-goal lead. As if the loss didn't sting enough, they've got a couple tough games coming up against the Leafs and red-hot Capitals. With injuries galore, most notably, DeBrusk and Krug still will not be playing in the next two games, two players whose presences on the ice have been very much missed. Additionally, Zach Senyshyn, who recently was called up from Providence and has been showing great potential for a permanent spot on the roster, suffered a lower-body injury Tuesday night and will be out for at least a month. Suddenly the B's hot start has come to a stop and they've certainly got their work cut out for them from this point on. While I'm not worried yet, the next two games will be key indicators as to what direction this team is going in.