Captain Brad Marchand had a two-point performance while skating in his 1000th NHL game Tuesday night at TD Garden
Captain Brad Marchand had a two-point performance while skating in his 1000th NHL game Tuesday night at TD Garden
The Boston Bruins were given three third-period power plays in a game tied 2-2 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
However, they failed to convert on any of them, and ultimately fell 3-2 in a shootout Tuesday night at TD Garden.
“Our power play needs to come through for us there,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “I just don’t think our puck decisions and our puck movement were quick enough. I didn’t think we passed the puck crisp enough to be able to beat their execution of their penalty kill.”
Despite the loss, the Bruins picked up a point and looked a lot more like themselves following a sloppy 3-0 loss to the Washington Capitals Saturday. Boston erased a 2-0 deficit, led 38-25 in shots on goal and played with pace for a majority of the 65 minutes against Tampa Bay.
“I thought we played a good game, we just weren’t able to get the final goal there at the end. Overall, I thought it was a lot more good things,” said Charlie McAvoy, who scored the Bruins’ first goal.
Brad Marchand skated in his 1000th career game and had a two-point night, assisting on both McAvoy and James van Riemsdyk’s goals. The team will honor the captain’s milestone Monday prior to its game against the Dallas Stars.
“It is a very special thing and it’s not something that everybody gets to do,” Marchand said. “As much as I was trying to block it out and be focused on the game – I was trying to balance back and forth and just be grateful for the moment.”
Defenseman Erik Cernak gave the Lightning a first-period lead with his first goal of the season at 3:21. While it initially looked like Linus Ullmark made the save, Cernak’s on-the-fly wrister from the right side just barely trickled in for the 1-0 advantage.
Danton Heinen was called for high-sticking at 19:11 of the opening frame, giving Tampa Bay 1:12 on its league-leading power play to start the second period. Nikita Kucherov – who tops the NHL with 90 points – cashed in on the man advantage with a laser from below the right face-off dot to make it 2-0 at 1:06.
The Bruins were quick to respond, and cut their deficit to 2-1 with a Charlie McAvoy goal at 2:04. The defenseman blasted one from the point for his eighth tally of the season, and Marchand picked up the primary assist on the play.
James van Riemsdyk found the 2-2 equalizer at 16:23 while Boston was skating 6-on-5 due to a delayed penalty on Tampa Bay. Marchand got off the initial shot from the low, right side before van Riemsdyk jammed the rebound past Andrei Vasilevskiy for his ninth of the season.
“Against a guy like [Vasilevskiy], obviously he’s one of the best in the league, so you’ve got to make sure that you’re staying patient with what you’re trying to do and not trying to get too cute around the net,” van Riemsdyk said.
Marchand nearly completed a storybook ending to his 1000th game in overtime while on the rush with David Pastrnak, but Vasilevskiy got a piece of the down-low wrister and it deflected high.
“Sometimes you lose games in this league and you feel like you deserve better. And that’s going to happen. I was proud of our effort,” Montgomery said.
Vasilevskiy then stood tall in the shootout and stopped attempts from Jake DeBrusk, Charlie Coyle and Pastrnak. Forward Brayden Point’s shot sealed the 3-2 win for the Lightning.
The Bruins are now 1-2-1 since returning from All-Star break, dropping three of the four games played. Tuesday’s loss, though, moved the team in the right direction in terms of compete level and execution.
“That was more like our team, for sure. If we play like that every night, we are going to give ourselves an opportunity to win most games,” Marchand said.
Boston will be back in action Thursday as it welcomes the Seattle Kraken to TD Garden for a 7 p.m. puck drop.
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