Bruins Wrap: Boston Falls In Tough Overtime Loss To Lightning

BOSTON — The Bruins welcomed the Tampa Bay Lightning to TD Garden on Saturday without Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy and a handful of others due to respective injuries, and still looked like the more engaged team throughout much of the contest.

Unfortunately, some brutal puck luck early on and a missed breakaway opportunity by David Pastrnak allowed the visiting Lightning to earn a 3-2 overtime win.

Boston fell to 12-8-1 with the loss while the Lightning improved to 14-5-4.

You can check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Bruins were able to rally back behind two unanswered goals, and ultimately claimed one point, but still probably deserved better.

Boston dominated the defending champion Lightning from the opening puck drop, but a brutal shorthanded goal — the Bruins biggest mistake of the game — and a second-period goal off the skate of a Bruins player ultimately did them in.

Boston out-shot Tampa Bay 12-6 in the first period and had a 37-16 edge with less than five minutes left in the game. At game’s end, they held a 39-25 advantage in shots on goal, and that didn’t include three that sounded off the post between the first two periods.

STARS OF THE GAME
— It would have been a one-sided affair without Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy playing like the best in the world. Vasilevskiy finished with 37 saves on 39 shots.

— The box score didn’t do Pastrnak much justice, but it was a strong performance from the top-line winger. Pastrnak, who finished with three shots, twice beat Vasilevskiy, but had both hit off the post.

— Erik Haula set up Charlie Coyle on the door step with a beautiful backhanded pass to get the Bruins on the board. Haula collected a rebound off Craig Smith’s initial shot and slid a pass through the crease to Coyle at the back post. Haula finished with three shots of his own, too.

Charlie Coyle Buries Beautiful Erik Haula Feed To Give Bruins New Life

Dec 4, 2021

WAGER WATCH
If you weren’t paying attention, DraftKings Sportsbook might have got you to place an ill-advised bet. Brad Marchand was on the betting boards at +185 to score an anytime goal and 11-to-1 to score the first goal oof the game. Marchand, however, was not playing as he served the third game of his suspension. Coyle (+370) and Lazar (+550) were much more profitable.

ON DECK AT NESN
The Bruins will begin a three-game road trip to Canada on Wednesday with the first game against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday before contests against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday and Calgary Flames on Saturday. You can watch it live on NESN.