One night after the Boston Bruins opened the new season with a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers thanks to excellent special teams, the B’s struggled in that area of the game Thursday night in a frustrating 2-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.
Boston’s penalty kill was a perfect 3-for-3 against the Flyers, but it couldn’t sustain that level of success in Detroit. The Red Wings scored the game-winning goal at 14:46 of the second period when Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg was unable to pick up Gustav Nyquist in time to stop the 25-year-old center from capitalizing on a nice pass from Darren Helm.
The real special teams problem for Boston on Thursday was its power-play performance. The Bruins weren’t able to generate many quality scoring chances with the man advantage, and they failed to capitalize on a 4-on-3 power play in the second period.
During that 4-on-3, the Bruins didn’t have anyone in front of the net, which allowed the Red Wings’ penalty killers to stay in the shooting lanes and gave Jimmy Howard a clear view of the puck on shots from the point. There also was very little movement on the four Bruins power plays, and it didn’t help that the B’s weren’t able to enter the attacking zone cleanly to set up their formations.
Boston was fortunate to get a third-period power play trailing 2-1 with 2:34 remaining, but Zdeno Chara wiped it out 48 seconds later by taking a goalie interference penalty.
Although there wasn’t much to be encouraged by Thursday night, it’s still way too early to assess the 2014-15 version of the Bruins’ power play, especially since veteran center David Krejci — who tied for the team lead with 19 power-play points last season — has missed the first two games because of an injury. He plays such an important role on the first unit.
— Boston has lost three straight regular-season games at Joe Louis Arena by a combined score of 11-4.
— The Bruins lost the puck possession battle Thursday night, as evidenced by the final Corsi numbers.
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— Milan Lucic has received 30:24 of ice time through two games, but he’s tallied only one shot (which was blocked) and has zero points. The veteran winger also has been credited with just two hits. Lucic’s slow start isn’t too surprising because he missed the first few preseason games while recovering from offseason surgery on his left wrist.
— Boston’s only goal was scored by Patrice Bergeron. The reigning Selke Trophy winner stole the puck by intercepting a pass from Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, and then beat Jimmy Howard glove side with a perfect shot.
— Bergeron was checked into the end boards by Niklas Kronwall in the second period and went to the quiet room as part of the NHL’s concussion protocol.
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Bergeron was matched up against Red Wings superstar forward Henrik Zetterberg all game, and when the Bruins center was forced to miss time in the second period after the Kronwall hit, Detroit scored two goals with Zetterberg on the ice. That might not have happened if Bergeron was available.
— The Bruins registered just 17 shots on goal, 12 of which came from Brad Marchand (four), Carl Soderberg (two) and Zdeno Chara (six). Boston’s other 11 forwards totaled just three shots.
— Ryan Spooner has failed to make an impact offensively in 25:02 of ice time this season. At even strength Thursday, Spooner was on the ice for zero Boston shots and 10 shots against. He’s also won just 38.9 percent of his faceoffs and has tallied zero points through two games.
— Defenseman Torey Krug led all Bruins in ice time (20:25).
— Shift chart, via War on Ice:
Thumbnail photo via Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports Images
