Jake DeBrusk’s wide shot attempt in overtime led to the Minnesota Wild’s game-ending 3-on-1 rush the other way, handing Boston a 4-3 overtime loss. Bruins coach Jim Montgomery was explicit in his assessment.
BOSTON – For the fourth game in a row, the Boston Bruins went to overtime. This time, against the Minnesota Wild, Brad Marchand scored with 1:06 remaining in regulation to tie it 3-3. The Bruins led 2-1 entering the third period, but goals from Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman put the Wild ahead.
The two sides traded a couple chances during 3-on-3 overtime, including a Matt Boldy breakaway stopped by Linus Ullmark at 2:10 as well as a Charlie Coyle wrister that just stayed out at 2:27. But it was the next shot attempt that decided the game.
Bringing the puck up along the left side, Jake DeBrusk unwound a shot with Wild defenseman Brock Faber in front of him, which went wide right past Marc-Andre Fleury and the Minnesota net. Coyle was following up in support, but the puck bounced off the end boards and into Kaprizov’s stick.
With DeBrusk circling back deep in the zone and Coyle caught on the goal line, the Wild had a 3-on-1 rush the other way, which Kaprizov capitalized on to score his second goal of the evening and secure the 4-3 win.
“Better get that on net,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said of DeBrusk’s initial shot attempt. “I don’t like the shot selection, and I don’t like both guys going to the net, going all the way to the goal line. You know, that’s what gives up the 3-on-1 the other way.”
Game management has been an issue for Boston, which has now lost three of its past four games after leading entering the third period. Even with David Pastrnak continuing to score, the fourth line buying into its role and the Linus Ullmark-Jeremy Swayman tandem playing well in net, the Bruins have struggled to maintain results.
Rather than the whole team playing poorly against Minnesota, it came down to a handful of key moments that end up deciding the game, and DeBrusk’s ill-timed shot was one of them. But Montgomery was not pleased with what he saw in overtime as a whole.
“Our game management wasn’t great,” Montgomery said. “We had full possession and we lost it 40 seconds in there with– I don’t know if it’s a careless pass, but it’s not a tape-to-tape pass, and now they have possession.”
With the NHL Holiday Roster Freeze in effect as of 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday and lasting through 12:01 a.m on Dec. 28, there won’t be any call-ups or reassignments for the next three games. Instead, this current group will have to clean things up before they head out on a three-game road trip.