It was a tough Thursday night for the Bruins who surrendered a two-goal lead to ultimately lose in a shootout to the Los Angeles Kings.
Not much went right for Boston in the third period as it couldn’t capitalize on the power play as frustrations began to creep in.
Things won’t always go the Bruins’ way, and still remain one of the top teams in the NHL, but losing a winnable never is a good feeling for a team that has had such success on home ice this season.
Here are four takeaways from Thursday’s loss.
Frustration got the best of the Bruins
The Bruins led 2-0 at one point and looked well on their way to their 24th win of the season. But breakdowns on the power play really hurt the B’s and allowed the Kings to come back and ultimately win.
“I sensed frustration, to be honest,” head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after the game. “I think our first period was OK, I thought our second period started off really well and we started doing a lot of really good things. And then when we got up 2-0, we got away from those things that were giving us success.”
Penalties also hurt the Bruins. And even though Montgomery had no issue with Brad Marchand’s OT penalty, he thought many of them ended up being “retaliatory.”
“I thought tonight we took a lot of retaliatory penalties. That usually is some sort of frustration involved, whether it’s the game — in the first period (there were) eight minutes of special teams — so there’s a lot of guys not getting the minutes that they’re used to,” Montgomery told reporters. “So it creeps into your game and you’re waiting for things to get going and you’re not getting in the flow of the game as you usually do.”
Even David Krejci, who returned to the lineup after a two-game absence with a lower-body injury, knew tensions were high for the Bruins, but was tight-lipped about where it stemmed from.
“I don’t want to get into it,” he told reporters.
There’s still another level to Brad Marchand’s game
Marchand returned a month ahead of schedule from offseason double-hip surgery and has 22 points in 21 games. He snapped a four-game pointless streak Thursday with a goal, but he still remains unhappy with his game.
“I have high expectations for my game. When I’m not there, regardless of it’s now or if it was last year or previous years, if I don’t have a good game, I’m not happy with it and try and improve on it,” Marchand told reporters. “It’s a process. It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight. Just got to keep chipping away. I feel at times it’s coming back. I feel more comfortable out there. I feel like my conditioning’s getting back. It’s coming.”
It’s hard to imagine Marchand playing at higher level than he is right now, but that certainly is good news for the Bruins and bad news for opponents.
Power play was the difference-maker
And not in a good way. The Bruins’ power play was a dud Thursday night — especially in the third period. Boston had chances to build its lead and take the lead back in the second and third periods, respectively, but never capitalized in the crucial moments.
“Nothing worked,” Marchand told reporters. “We weren’t on the same page.”
“I said it to Chris Kelly on the bench, ‘If we don’t score on the second power play that we got, we’re gonna end up in a tight ballgame,’ ” Montgomery told reporters.
A tight ballgame is exactly what the Bruins found themselves in as they went to their third straight shootout at TD Garden.
Third line continues to produce
A bright spot in the loss was the third line and Taylor Hall, who had the first goal of the game for Boston. Since moving to the third line last month, Hall has amassed six goals and four assists. The chemistry with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic clearly is there and Montgomery has liked what he’s seen from the line. The Bruins are a deep team, and their forward lines continue to show that game in and game out.
