The Boston Bruins suffered their second regulation loss of the season, again at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings. But to Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, this game felt different in the worst ways.
BOSTON – The Boston Bruins took Black Friday to heart against the Detroit Red Wings, in that their play was half-off in the 5-2 matinee loss.
Although if you ask Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, the percentage is probably higher.
“90 percent,” Montgomery said regarding how much of the loss was self-inflicted. “I mean they [Detroit] played fast; we didn’t. But the execution on the forecheck, the execution in the neutral zone– the only part of our game that I thought was good was our breakouts. Power play wasn’t good, penalty kill wasn’t good. Not going to win a lot of hockey games when that’s the case.”
Montgomery also pointed out the opportunities to seize momentum that Detroit managed to win right back. He didn’t like the response after going down 2-0, which happened when Alex DeBrincat stripped the puck from Matt Poitras at the Bruins blue line and had a clean breakaway on Jeremy Swayman.
Then later, when Danton Heinen scored off an end-board rebound to cut it to 3-2 at 4:12 of the third period, Brandon Carlo was called for hooking on Joe Veleno 50 seconds later, and it took Dylan Larkin and the Red Wings power play just six seconds to cash in and bring it back to a 4-2 lead.
“It’s huge when the power play can go over the boards and have a good feeling,” Larkin said. “There was a shake-up in the units, and I don’t think it’s ever been the last 12 games where it’s been lack of effort, it’s just lack of execution. And we executed tonight in a really hard building to generate offense.”
The normally staunch Bruins penalty kill, which entered the afternoon with an NHL-best 91.0% kill rate, allowed two power-play goals out of six opportunities, and Robby Fabbri’s goal at 13:24 of the second period to give Detroit a 3-1 lead came just five seconds after Mason Lohrei’s high-sticking penalty expired.
The Bruins got a power-play goal of their own from Jake DeBrusk, who has scored in two games in a row after a slow start to the season, but the Red Wings allowed just three opportunities and none in the third period. Their last opportunity came with exactly two minutes remaining in the second period, and while Boston generated three shots on goal, Ville Husso stood tall, and a couple turnovers killed any momentum.
“Give them credit, they came on hard and played a simple and effective game,” DeBrusk said. “They got pucks in and were going after our [defense] pretty hard there, and it just seemed like we couldn’t get any traction in the neutral zone. And, you know, once we kind of started chipping away, I guess in terms, it seemed like we had a penalty or something that they would capitalize on, so it seemed like they controlled our momentum swings really well, which is why they got the win.”
There weren’t many positives to take away from an opponent that’s seen Boston more than any other team this season, and is still the only team to defeat the Bruins in regulation. Now, the Bruins make a quick turnaround and will face off against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
“Obviously we didn’t do enough to win tonight, and it’s one of those things that hasn’t happened much this year, so it always feels weird and sucks, but move on. And sometimes it’s good to face a new opponent the next day.”