The Boston Bruins officially can't win them all. We know, shocking.
A mixture of bad luck and an inability to capitalize on a few opportunities contributed to Boston's first loss in two weeks, a 3-2 road affair against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Though the Bruins were able to tie the game relatively, it appeared they were on the wrong side of a mistake by referee Dan O'Rourke early in the third period. Lightning center Steven Stamkos appeared to interfere with the stick of David Krejci, allowing for a quick shot off the face off that B's goalie Linus Ullmark never saw coming.
Take a look at the play for yourself:
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery didn't want to use the play as an excuse, but spoke about the technical aspect postgame.
"I thought, clearly, there was a pick of Krejci's stick," Montgomery said, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "There was not an opportunity to play the puck properly. Gotta give them credit, they executed it. It was a good bang-bang face off play."
Krejci himself gave a reserved reaction.
"I didn't see the replay, but I felt (Stamkos) went straight for my stick before the puck touched the ice," Krejci said, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "I've gotten kicked out for that I don't know how many times. I don't want to accuse the ref. That's how I felt, but I haven't seen it yet."
Again, the point would be erased just minutes later, but was undoubtedly suspect both at the time and in retrospect.
Here are more notes from Thursday's Bruins-Lightning game:
-- Boston dropped just its sixth regulation game Tuesday, providing the rare opportunity for the Bruins to try and rebound from a close loss.
"That was a great game, wasn't it?" Montgomery said. "I thought it was back and forth all night long. I think the biggest difference, and this is where we can grow, is there were a couple of details on goals against that we made mistakes in how we want to play things.
"It's an opportunity. That's the difference in the playoffs, and that was a playoff-type game. You need to execute in big moments and tonight, unfortunately, we didn't. It's an opportunity for us to learn and grow and get better."
-- The Lightning secured their 11th consecutive victory at home with the win, capturing a new franchise record. Tampa Bay moved to 19-0-0 on the season when leading after one period.
-- Charlie McAvoy took a brutal tumble into the boards early in the third period, providing a good scare for those in New England. He missed less than three minutes, returning for the Bruins' ensuing power play.
-- The Bruins will stay in the swamp to take on the Florida Panthers on Saturday. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET from FLA Live Arena. You can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
