Bruins
“We at all times know we’re gonna struggle again, but it surely should not get to that time.”
The excellent news? For the fifth straight recreation, a Bruins roster marred by scoring droughts lit the lamp not less than 4 occasions.
The dangerous information? A five-goal salvo for the Bruins wasn’t sufficient to safe two factors on Thursday evening at TD Backyard.
For many followers, Boston’s 6-5 regulation loss to the Penguins was effectively definitely worth the worth of admission so far as leisure is anxious.
Brad Marchand’s opening tally simply 41 seconds into the primary interval was an indication of issues to come back, with Boston and Pittsburgh combining for 5 complete targets within the opening 7:21 of play — the fastest five-goal output from the start of a game this season.
Earlier than the halfway level of the second interval, the Bruins had been watching a 5-2 deficit.
And whereas Jim Montgomery tipped his cap to his gamers for rallying again and tying the competition at 5-5 within the third, it was too little, too late on Causeway Road.
Sidney Crosby gave Pittsburgh the lead for good at 11:19 within the third interval, breaking the impasse and in the end snapping Boston’s four-game win streak.
“There’s by no means any give up and we satisfaction ourselves on that, in order that was nice to see,” Charlie Coyle mentioned postgame. “Nevertheless it’s not a superb factor to place your self in a few holes in that recreation. We at all times know we’re gonna struggle again, but it surely shouldn’t get to that time. We dug ourselves too many holes.”
All it takes is a fast glimpse of the scoresheet to see the place issues went awry for Boston — with the Bruins relinquishing six targets for simply the second time all yr.
However for Montgomery, it was the style wherein Pittsburgh generated its offense that raised considerations.
It was a far-from-stellar displaying from Jeremy Swayman (six targets in opposition to on 35 photographs), however the Bruins’ netminder wasn’t precisely aided by the following line of protection in entrance of him.
Each of Pittsburgh’s first two tallies had been the results of additional Penguins skaters camped on the netfront, with Drew O’Connor knocking house a rebound lower than 5 minutes after Marchand opened the scoring.
Pittsburgh’s third purpose of the evening got here off of an odd-man rush; even the stoutest netminders within the league are doomed to fail when Crosby and linemate Jake Guentzel are bearing down on them.
“I don’t like our ice administration,” Montgomery mentioned. “I don’t just like the odd-man rushes we gave up — whether or not it’s on the facility play or five-on-five. Giving up an odd-man rush price us the penalty that ended up getting them the sixth purpose.
“It’s simply — we’re not making sound selections. We’re forcing stuff once we don’t have to. We’re getting loads of offense. We didn’t must pressure offense. Sadly, our recreation administration, I believe, price us the sport.”
Montgomery has routinely bemoaned Boston’s lapses when defending the push. However the Bruins made issues far too straightforward for Pittsburgh’s skaters close to the blue paint on Thursday.
Based on Pure Stat Trick, the Bruins relinquished 21 high-danger scoring possibilities to the Penguins. It was simply two off of their season-high 23 Grade-A seems to be that they coughed up in a 7-4 loss to the Rangers on Nov. 25.
“We didn’t finish performs within the D-zone once they went behind the web,” Montgomery mentioned of Boston’s struggles with defending the netfront. “That’s the place it begins.
“After which our defensemen didn’t get again to our web fast sufficient on our hand-offs on our D-zone protection. That’s why they scored two targets within the first interval — had been rebound targets. And it’s as a result of we’re two-on-one on the web.”
The Bruins is not going to get a lot of a respite as they kind out their D-zone woes. After internet hosting the Lightning on Saturday evening, Boston will head out on a four-game highway journey that includes matchups in opposition to the final two Stanley Cup champions within the Avalanche (Jan. 8) and Golden Knights (Jan. 11).
“I don’t suppose that we didn’t have dangerous effort,” Marchand famous. “I believe we had a number of psychological errors… Our video games are robust and it simply reveals that it’s important to be mentally ready each evening and it’s one thing that we nonetheless have a younger group and we nonetheless have to be taught and type of get by collectively.”
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