It was an ugly loss for the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
Boston gave up a goal early in the first, but looked like a completely different team in periods two and three against the Vancouver Canucks. Despite allowing Boston to tie the gamee in the third, the Canucks emerged victorious in overtime as the B’s dropped their third straight game, 2-1.
Brandon Carlo’s strong game was looked over after he struggled in overtime. The defenseman was on the ice for Vancouver’s game-winning goal and tried to slide in front of a shot attempt. But it proved futile as Bo Horvat netted the game-winning goal.
The 21-year-old saw increased playing time for Boston as it was without Kevan Miller and Charlie McAvoy. The pair of defensemen were sent back to Boston on Saturday. Miller is nursing a hand injury, while McAvoy hasn’t felt 100 percent since taking a hit against the Edmonton Oilers. The Bruins also have been without Torey Krug since the season began with an ankle injury.
After the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy noted where Carlo went wrong. And although Casidy believes Carlo is a good defender, he also knows the third-year blueliner need to earn his time on the ice.
“Obviously he made a mistake in the overtime,” Cassidy said on “NESN Sports Today” after the game. “What I like about Brandon … he can play against good players. Defend. And that’s where I’m disappointed. Yeah, he lost the puck. It’s gonna happen. But he lost his composure defending. I think he just has to do a better job buying time, let people get back into play, play the 2-on-1 better.”
Despite the mishap, Cassidy didn’t take away from the positives he saw from Carlo.
“He did some real good things offensively,” Cassidy said. “Tough way to finish, but we’re going to need him to be a good player for us especially when we’re down some guys on the right side. I thought for the most part, he did a real good job.”
Here are some other notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Canucks game:
— Urho Vaakanainen made his NHL debut with the Bruins on Saturday night. After the game, he didn’t hold back on what he thought about Boston’s first period, specifically when his line was on the ice.
“That first period was pretty bad from us,” he said during the second intermission. “They got chances pretty easily from our mistakes.”
The former 2017 first-round pick had a shot on goal with 12:26 of ice time.
— John Moore’s assist on Joakim Nordstrom’s third-period goal marked the 100th point of his career.
— The Canucks had never shutout the Bruins at home in franchise history. It looked as if they were going to end the drought, but with 12:15 left in the game, Joakim Nordstrom netted the game-tying goal to keep the streak alive.
— Boston now is 0-1-2 through its first three games of the four-game road trip. The Bruins look to close it out on a high note when they travel to Ottawa to take on the Senators on Tuesday night.
