It was a tough night for the Boston Bruins.
The Bruins offense couldn’t find the back of the net against Pekka Rinne and the Nashville Predators as Boston fell 1-0 at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday night. It’s the third time the B’s have been shutout this season, and head coach Bruce Cassidy wants to see more offense from more than just the first line.
“We gotta execute better coming out of our own end,” he said, as seen on NESN’s Bruins postgame coverage. “I think we put ourselves in bad spots. Some of that is not following the game plan. … It’s a matter of generating offense throughout the group. We’ve got a lot of guys in our lineup up front I wouldn’t classify them as goal-scorers like the (David) Pastrnak’s and (Brad) Marchand’s but they still have the ability to score goals and we’re not getting it.”
Boston had just six shots on goal in the third period but had some solid scoring chances from the fourth line.
“Noel (Acciari) had a good chance … (Chris) Wagner had a good chance. If those go in it’s a different game, but they didn’t. Give their goalie credit. They’re a very good defensive team, but we’ve gotta find a way to get a little more inside and some second chances.”
Boston didn’t stand a chance against Rinne, who stopped all 26 shots he faced. And while the B’s had some ample opportunities to beat him, their opportunities were denied.
Here are some other notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Predators game:
— Boston was without Brad Marchand for a total 14 minutes. Toward the end of the first period, the winger was called for a high-stick on Colton Sissons who seemed to embellish the fall. Marchand also was assessed an unsportsmanlike minor and a 10-minute major for the taunt that followed the initial penalty.
“The league is trying to get certain things out of the game and that embellishment is one they should look at,” Cassidy said. “We have a player who gets nailed for a penalty he didn’t commit and all of a sudden he’s out 14 minutes.”
The head coach didn’t place the full blame on the officials, however.
“Now, part of that is on our player to make sure he has better discipline,” Cassidy said. “I think part of it is on the official to work with the player. Brad Marchand’s been in the league 10 years … listen he’s had his run-ins with the law but the 10-minute misconduct I thought was out of line.”
— Jaroslav Halak stopped 39 of 40 shots and kept the game in reach for the Bruins with some timely saves. Saturday marked the goalie’s first loss in regulation this season.
— David Backes made his return to the lineup after not playing since Oct. 18 when he was on the receiving end of a high hit against the Edmonton Oilers. The winger had two shots on goal with as many hits during his 13:17 on the ice.
— Boston was 0-for-4 on the power play in the loss.
