Pavel Zacha scored the only goal for the Boston Bruins Tuesday night at TD Garden.
The Boston Bruins put together one strong period of hockey against the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night at TD Garden. And, as one might guess, that’s not enough to win in the NHL.
The B’s fell 3-1 in their final game of the regular season, and were slow from puck drop. Pavel Zacha scored Boston’s lone goal on the power play – which desperately needed to get going before playoffs – but it wasn’t enough to overcome the previous sluggish 40 minutes.
“We didn’t have our best game. We played in the third – didn’t play in the first two periods,” Brad Marchand said Tuesday. “That’s too late to start playing. Teams are too good. Doesn’t matter who it is, you can’t play one period.”
The Bruins were held to just three shots on goal in the first period, carrying over a low-effort style of play that saw them lose 2-0 to the Washington Capitals just 24 hours prior. Monday, the Bruins had the excuse of playing a team desperate for playoff positioning. Tuesday, however, gave no excuse, and they still came out with a far-from-postseason-form showing.
“Disappointed in it, but I do like the fact that we got better every period,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said Tuesday.
Marchand was sent to the box twice in the opening stanza, and while Boston was able to kill off both penalties, it was unable to gain any momentum. Andrew Peeke laid a big hit on Thomas Chabot on the PK – the defenseman’s physicality was perhaps the only highlight of the period.
The Senators snatched a 1-0 lead at 10:03 of the second period. Jiri Smejkal’s wrister from below the left circle trickled into the back of the net, and marked the forward’s first career goal.
Ottawa doubled its lead just 51 seconds later by taking advantage of a Bruins’ turnover at the offensive blue line. Charlie Coyle mishandled the puck and Brady Tkachuk took off with it the other way while on the rush with Drake Batherson and Jakob Chychrun. Chychrun – who leads all Ottawa defensemen with 41 points this season – ultimately buried it from the left side for the 2-0 advantage at 10:54.
“Result wise, not what we wanted obviously,” Linus Ullmark, who made 17 saves, said Tuesday. “Some things to clean up. It’s a good thing we have a couple of days now before the fun starts.”
Zacha got the Bruins on the board at 12:44 of the third period while on the power play. The center scooped up the rebound of Kevin Shattenkirk’s shot from the point and backhanded it past Anton Forsberg to make it 2-1.
The new first unit of Zacha, Shattenkirk, Danton Heinen, David Pastrnak and James van Riemsdyk breathed life back into a Bruins man advantage that has struggled as of late.
“We just had a little bit more volume of shooting. I think before, we were trying to pass it around the perimeter and didn’t shoot that many pucks,” Zacha said Tuesday. “I think that’s something we have to focus on more too – shooting from the top and then it opens [for] our wingers.”
While the Bruins led 23-2 in SOG in the third period, they were unable to find the equalizer, and Artem Zub ultimately sealed the 3-1 win for Ottawa with a short-handed, empty-net goal at 18:12.
Boston will now have to put the loss behind it and quickly refocus for the first round of the playoffs in which it will face the Toronto Maple Leafs. Game 1 is expected to be Saturday at TD Garden.
“The last two games weren’t good enough,” Zacha said. “I think we’re learning from that and moving forward with what we have to do.”
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