Bruins Say Stadium Series Loss ‘Stings’ After Blowing Lead

The Boston Bruins are disappointed to leave the Stadium Series with just one point.

Boston was taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday. Although the Lightning scored 11 seconds into the game, the Bruins then scored five straight to lead 5-1.

Yet, the Lightning began to rally, in large part due to Boston taking multiple penalties and Tampa Bay having multiple 5-on-3 power plays, which killed the Bruins momentum, according to star defenseman Charlie McAvoy.

“Oh man, it hurts. It hurts a lot,” McAvoy said on Sunday, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “The way that we lost it is just brutal. … We spent half the game in the penalty box. It just killed our momentum. It killed the game, really.

“It was a good game before that and then we were in the box for that whole (second) period. We had complete control of the game, and you give a team with that kind of power play a 5-on-3 for I don’t know how long it was, you are just asking for it.”

Bruins forward Morgan Geekie, who scored twice, echoed McAvoy’s comments as he said losing that game is heartbreaking for the team.

“Yeah, this one stings, for sure,” Geekie said.

David Pastrnak felt like Boston made too many mistakes, which they can’t afford to do against a team as good as Tampa Bay.

Bruins head coach Marco Sturm also felt like Boston lost its composure in the second and third periods.

“We just lost our composure a little bit and it cost us, unfortunately, a point,” Sturm said. “Again, that is something we have to learn. That is a veteran group over there. They have been through it a lot of times. Hopefully, we learned something today.

“At the end of the day, you cannot relax if you got a lead like we had today. You can see how dangerous they are and how good they are.”

Boston will return to the ice on Wednesday against the Florida Panthers on the road in its final game before the Olympic break.