3 Moments That Sealed Bruins' Fate in Loss to Calgary
The Boston Bruins' poor showing led to a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, but flipping the outcome of three specific points in the game would have given the Bruins a chance to salvage their losing effort.
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports - 3 Moments That Sealed Bruins' Fate in Loss to CalgaryBOSTON -- The Boston Bruins put forth arguably their worst effort of the season in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames. Their game was full of errors and lacked energy, but there were three specific moments that, had they worked out in the Bruins' favor instead of Calgary's, could have flipped the game entirely.
There was no sugarcoating it: The Bruins did not deserve to win the game, and they were the first to admit it.
“I just didn’t think we were good,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “Our effort was poor. Obviously as a staff, you look inwardly and you look at our preparation. You always think, as a coach, your preparation was good, but obviously it wasn’t good enough.”
However, the sequence leading up to Calgary's opening goal had the potential to set a different tone. Brandon Carlo's holding penalty on Nazem Kadri at 3:48 of the first period set the Flames up with their first power play.
An offensive zone giveaway by Flames forward Yegor Sharangovich sent Charlie Coyle the other way on a short-handed breakaway. Calgary defenseman Noah Hanifin caught up, but not before Coyle unleashed a shot from inside the right circle.
Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom made a pad save, and Sharangovich swooped in to send the rebound the other way. Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau worked the puck along the left boards before Huberdeau centered it to Andrei Kuzmenko in space. The Flames newcomer quickly gathered his shot and whipped it past Jeremy Swayman to give Calgary a 1-0 lead at 4:20 of the first period.
It's the textbook definition of a 'two-goal swing,' and while the Bruins didn't exactly look sharp in those first five minutes, a 1-0 lead with a shorty would have completely altered the trajectory of the game.
"[Markstrom] stopped that short-handed breakaway that they had, and then we were able to come back and score right away, so to me, that's a turning point, for sure," Flames coach Ryan Huska said.
Calgary doubled their lead later in the first period, and held Boston to just five shots on goal in the second period. Two of those shots came on last ditch efforts in the final 13 seconds of the period.
Despite the lack of second-period chances, the Bruins found their way back into the game with a 5-on-3 power-play goal from Pavel Zacha at 4:14 of the third.
With the score cut to 2-1 and 1:26 of a 5-on-4 advantage remaining for the Bruins, they had a prime opportunity to tie it up and fight for the win over the final 15 seconds.
Instead, a line change miscommunication -- which Montgomery accepted blame for -- led to Boston getting caught with too many men on the ice at 15:55, turning the power play into a 4-on-4. Shortly after, Huberdeau managed to take the puck off Charlie McAvoy's stick and beat Swayman with a wrister to bring it back to a two-goal game at 16:23.
There was no guarantee the Bruins would tie the game had it remained a power play, especially with how they had played up to that point, but after squandering the rest of their man advantage and falling back down by two, any shrivel of hope was lost.
"That was it," McAvoy said.
McAvoy also rang a shot off the post at 1:10 of the third, marking another 'what if' in a frustrating night for the Black & Gold at TD Garden.
"We had to plan to win the game and we just didn't do it the right way," Zacha said. "They outplayed us today, so that's something we have to learn from. And coming from a break, they came from a break too, so it's not really [an] excuse for us. Luckily we have a game in a day-and-a-half to take it back, so that's what we have to focus on now."
The Bruins will host the league-leading Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, which now serves as a crucial response opportunity.
Other Links: