Bruins Fall in OT to Blue Jackets

The Boston Bruins returned to TD Garden for their first game of 2020, playing host to the Columbus Blue Jackets—a team they saw in the second round of the playoffs this past season. It was the first of three games the two teams will play this season, with two of them in Boston and one in Columbus.

Once again, the Bruins were outshot by their opponent, though not as extremely as they had been during some of their games in December. And just 17 seconds into the game it looked like they were going to be playing from behind, when it appeared that Gustav Nyquist had put the Blue Jackets on the scoreboard. Bruins Head Coach Bruce Cassidy challenged claiming goaltender interference. Upon review, the goal was overturned, and the Bruins dodged a bullet.

In a penalty-free first period, both teams’ goaltenders were stingy, and the players in front of Columbus’ Elvis Merzlikins were willing to put their bodies on the line—blocking five of the shots attempted by the Bruins in the opener.

The second period saw the first penalty—a questionable hooking call on Nick Foligno—which gave the Bruins the first opportunity at the man advantage. The Bruins didn’t capitalize, and then Foligno’s exit from the box saw him with a good opportunity that Tuukka Rask had to stop to keep the Blue Jackets off the scoreboard. However, the Bruins would find the back of the net when they were again on the power play—a result of Dean Kukan being sent off for tripping Jake DeBrusk. David Pastrnak notched his 30th goal of the season just four seconds into that second power play at 11:07 of the second.

The Bruins took that lead into the second intermission, but they were called for their second penalty of the middle period, a holding on Zdeno Chara, with just 45 seconds remaining on the clock. The Bruins kept Columbus from scoring, but that meant that at the start of the third, the Blue Jackets would still have 1:15 left of their power play.

The Bruins were able to make the kill as the third period got underway, but then came some problematic puck management that kept Boston from clearing their end, and as all too frequently happens in such a case, Columbus was ultimately able to capitalize. Sonny Milano’s wrist shot actually deflected off of Matt Grzelcyk’s skate and the game was tied with 17:54 remaining in regulation. And there really wasn’t much that Rask could do on that one.

“It’s another lead going into the third period we weren’t able to close out. That’s as frustrating as anything,” said Coach Cassidy.

However, once again the Bruins found themselves going to overtime, which has not been kind to the players in black and gold. Going into Thursday night’s game the Bruins’ OT record was 2-10. They are now 2-11 in the 3-on-3 overtime period, as Seth Jones was able to take the puck from Pastrnak and hustle up to the other end in an odd-man rush with Pierre-Luc Dubois that saw Jones make the pass and Dubois end the game.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s frustrating. Obviously, it’s been many of them this year. It’s probably getting a little bit in our head. We want to win a lot of those.  It requires confidence… We haven’t been doing well in it, so sometimes it’s frustrating,” said Pastrnak of their overtime struggles.

“Well just be smarter; hang onto the puck. It seems like some teams do that to us where they’re hanging onto the puck and getting our changes at the appropriate time. I’m not just speaking about tonight, but games past, you know, I feel like we could out-change the other team a little better and be respectful of our changes and see what happens. Obviously, we have to capitalize on our chances. We had a pretty decent chance tonight. [Pastrnak] had a good chance and just couldn’t come up with it. That’s what happens; it’s kind of a crapshoot at times,” said Torey Krug on what they need to do in OT.

While their overtime and shootout struggles are concerning, the Bruins are not dropping every game. They continue to sit in first place in their division, and second place in the Eastern Conference and in the League. They certainly can’t continue to leave points on the ice, but they have some time in which they can work on the issue.

“As for the overtime, some of it is we’ve got to smarten up. Can’t get caught diving down low, that’s happened more than once this year. On those puck battles away from your net, if you don’t make a play at their end, you’ve got to make sure you put yourself in a better spot defensively to defend the rush or get off the ice. That’s cost us a few times, so at some point you’ve got to learn from those mistakes as well,” said Coach Cassidy.

None of the Bruins players are happy with taking just a point out of a game. They know they have to figure out how to turn things around, both when it comes to maintaining a lead as well as closing out a game in regulation or overtime.

They will practice on Friday, but they have little time to obsess, as they play a matinee on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers.