BOSTON — TD Garden was buzzing ahead of Game 3 on Wednesday night, but the energy of the arena quickly evaporated less than two minutes into the contest.
The Boston Bruins dug themselves in an early hole in the third installment of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning. After Matt Grzelcyk failed to contain a bouncing puck in the Bruins’ zone, Lightning winger Ondrej Palat made the rookie defenseman pay by capitalizing on the golden opportunity with the opening goal just 1:47 into the contest. Palat’s tally was just the beginning of Boston’s rough first period, which proved to be costly in its 4-1 loss.
Slow starts were a problem for the Bruins throughout the regular season, but the team managed to make up for it with tremendous resolve. The Black and Gold certainly showed some fight Wednesday night, but there would be no comeback bid this time around.
After the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy noted that while Tampa Bay’s first goal obviously wasn’t ideal, it should not have been the backbreaker it proved to be.
“No we didn’t start the way we needed to at all,” Cassidy said. “It’s one thing to give up zone time but you’ve got to defend better. Like I said, first mistake is not great, but you should be able to overcome that. It can happen to anybody, he lost the puck and it bounced funny. The other two, like I said, we need to be harder in that scenario. That will be addressed tomorrow and hopefully if we want to win hockey games, we’re going to have to be better on Friday. There’s no doubt.”
Despite there being cause for concern for the B’s in a few areas heading into Friday night’s Game 4 at TD Garden, the team isn’t wavering.
“Feeling confident,” Patrice Bergeron said. “It’s one thing we’ve shown all year. It’s playoff hockey. We’re playing a good team and those things are going to happen. It’s about making sure we’re staying confident and we’re adjusting the things we need to adjust.”
Here are some other notes from Bruins-Lightning:
— Game 3 marked Tampa Bay’s first win in Boston since March 2017.
— The officiating has been a topic of conversation in every game this series, and Wednesday’s contest likely won’t end the discussion. The Bolts were granted five power-play opportunities, while the B’s only had one.
— Boston’s third line was ineffective in Game 3, which conceivably forced Cassidy to make personnel adjustments. Danton Heinen only logged 8:55 of ice time, while David Backes posted the least among the Bruins with 6:09.
— The Bruins’ only goal came on its lone power play courtesy of Bergeron. Boston now is 9-for-26 with the man advantage this postseason.
