There’s no sugar-coating it: If the Boston Bruins allow shorthanded goals in the playoffs like they did during the regular season, they’ll be making an early exit.
The Bruins entered Saturday’s regular-season finale against the Tampa Bay Lightning having allowed an eye-opening 14 shorthanded goals on the season, tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the most in the NHL. Well, Boston allowed another shorty Saturday afternoon to close the regular season with a league-worst 15 shorthanded goals.
The goal, scored by Lightning star Steven Stamkos, came with Boston holding a 2-1 lead. The Lightning eventually skated to a 6-3 victory in what was an uninspiring playoff tune-up.
This Bruins team has been historically bad at surrendering shorthanded goals, in fact.
The 15 shorties allowed is the most a Bruins team has surrendered since the 1991-92 season. The team “record” is 18.
At the end of the day, the Stanley Cup playoffs are the Stanley Cup playoffs, and any number of things can derail a given team’s hopes and dreams. But when you look at these Bruins, it’s hard to identify a wart larger, more potentially fatal than their propensity to go on a power play and allow their opponent to score.
Here are some other notes from Bruins-Lightning:
— Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov logged a goal and an assist to finish the season with 128 points. That’s the single-season record for a Russian-born NHL player.
— With the victory, the Lightning finished the season with 62 wins, tied with the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings for most in NHL history.
— Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t exactly offer a ringing endorsement of Tuukka Rask after the game.
— The Bruins held the annual Shirts Off their Backs ceremony after the game. Here are some highlights:
— The Bruins will begin the Stanley Cup playoffs Thursday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs. The league has yet to announce a game time.
