The Boston Bruins have had several instances of one period or one stretch of poor special teams causing issues this season. That frustrating trend continued Wednesday night in a 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
The home team ran one of the better power-play units in the league — the Devils scored three power-play goals — and set the tone for the game in a 4-0 second period. That surge wiped out a 1-0 Boston lead after a period of play and led to a road loss in regulation.
“You don’t want to give them that many opportunities,” Joe Sacco told NESN’s Andy Brickley during postgame coverage. “You want to do your best to stay out. … We got out-special teamed tonight. That was part of the difference in the game. That wasn’t the whole thing. I thought we had a good start to the game.”
Boston’s bench boss recognized that the team lost out on execution after a decent opening 20 minutes. Sacco believes the Bruins need better poise clearing the puck from the defensive zone moving forward.
The Bruins cannot afford to float around .500 for much longer in a tightening Eastern Conference. Luckily for Boston, the club gets the chance to make a difference against a nearby contender in the standings when the Ottawa Senators, who came back for a 6-5 shootout win Saturday against the Bruins, visit TD Garden on Thursday night.
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“We’re trying to find an answer in here and what we’re doing’s not good enough,” Morgan Geekie told reporters, per NESN’s postgame coverage. “We know it. It’s embarrassing, frankly, letting these games slip away from us. There’s not many of these left. We know the position we’re in and what it’s going to take to climb out of it. Just try to get back on the horse tomorrow.”
“We have an opportunity to do it tomorrow night,” Charlie Coyle told reporters, per NESN’s postgame coverage. “Play a better game.”
Here are more notes from Wednesday’s Bruins-Devils game:
— Boston entered with the league’s 22nd-ranked penalty kill percentage and allowed three goals with New Jersey on the man-advantage Wednesday night.
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— Sacco relieved Jeremy Swayman to start the third period in favor of Joonas Korpisalo. Swayman allowed all four goals the Devils scored in the second period when Boston consistently could not clear the puck from the defensive zone.
— Geekie’s first-period goal evened him with Coyle for the third-most goals for the Bruins this season with 12.
— Boston lost its first game in regulation since dropping a contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 9. The Bruins had been 3-0-1 since that loss at Amalie Arena.
— The Bruins and Devils each entered the night with 110 penalty kills on the season. Boston’s power-play went 0-for-3 on the night while New Jersey converted on 3-of-7 chances.
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— The Bruins finish a back-to-back and continue a stretch of three games in four days Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET from TD Garden. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
Featured image via Ed Mulholland/Imagn Images