The Bruins lost in heartbreaking fashion Friday night when a non-icing call led Lawson Crouse to bury the game-winner with 14 seconds left and give the Arizona Coyotes the 4-3 win over Boston.
Many from the Bruins believed it was worthy of a call, but at the end of the day, Jeremy Swayman didn’t play the puck and the Coyotes — who have not won against the B’s since 2010 in Prague — took full advantage and ended their six-game losing streak.
It wasn’t just the non-call that led to the Bruins’ loss, though. Here are three takeaways from Friday’s loss.
Non-icing call hurt Bruins, obviously
It looked as if the Bruins were going to get the icing call and have an offensive zone faceoff with 17 seconds left and a prime opportunity to break the 3-3 tie. Jeremy Swayman put his hand up as if the icing call was going to come, but it never did. No one on the Bruins played the puck and the Coyotes jumped all over the opportunity.
“We thought it should have been icing. It shouldn’t matter,” Montgomery told reporters after the game. “The only thing that should matter is whether our D-man could touch the puck before it crosses the goal line.”
Nick Foligno, who scored the game-tying goal late in the third period, was “dumbfounded” that icing wasn’t called.
“I actually couldn’t believe it,” Foligno told reporters. “I was almost, like, dumbfounded. Not to knock those [officials], it’s a just a surprising call when 100 times out of 100 that’s an icing. I don’t really know the difference…it’s a disappointing way to end a good hockey game, to be honest with you, with that call at the end.”
Jeremy Swayman wasn’t his sharpest
Swayman has yet to really find his groove yet this season. Yes, he missed some time due to injury, but even before then he wasn’t as sharp as he was last season. Swayman’s latest showing wasn’t a bounce-back one, allowing four goals on 16 shots.
“I wanna make sure that I’m keeping it one shot at a time and making saves when I need to,” Swayman told reporters after the game. “I was one save short (Friday) so I wanna fix that and move on.”
There’s no reason to push the panic button on Swayman. He has been known to bounce back after rough starts and handles losses with poise that he certainly won’t be dwelling on this for long.
Not starting on time hurt the Bruins
Sure, not getting the icing call resulted in the game-winning goal for the Coyotes, but had the Bruins started on time they likely wouldn’t have found themselves in the position they did Friday night.
Arizona took a 1-0 lead just 23 seconds into the game and even though the B’s found a way to tie it up and take the lead, they’d surrender it and allowed the Coyotes to come back.
“Obviously not the start that you want,” Bergeron told reporters. “I thought we made a lot of great plays, had a lot of great looks. Ultimately, I think defensively we gave them some Grade A’s. They’re a good team, they’re gonna make you pay.
“It was a bit of a different game, different flow. It was kind of on and off. The bottom line is we’ve got to be better overall and find ways to deny those Grade A chances and find ways to find the back of the net on our side.”
The Bruins have a chance to end their road trip on a high note Sunday night when they visit the Vegas Golden Knights.
