Boston’s Struggles Force Loss to Devils

(Photo: Alan Sullivan)

The Boston Bruins were finally back playing at TD Garden on Thursday, February 18, 2021 after having had three games postponed for Covid-19 protocol issues with the other teams. They welcomed the New Jersey Devils. One of the big changes was Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy electing to put David Pastrnak on the right wing of David Krejci’s line while Jake DeBrusk played on the first line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

Throughout the opening twenty minutes it was clear that the Bruins were struggling. The Devils spent a lot of time in the offensive end, though they didn’t have many shots on Jaroslav Halak. As the Bruins’ Chris Wagner was sent off for a tripping at 10:29, Boston was outshooting New Jersey 5-2 and the shot count stayed at that through the penalty. However, after that the Devils began to put more rubber on Halak while the Bruins went 13:38 between shots 5 and 6 on Mackenzie Blackwood. The period ended with each team having seven shots on goal while neither team had anything to show for it.

The second period saw the Bruins continuing to struggle. Kyle Palmieri got the Devils on the board at 1:34. The Bruins lost Krejci during his first shift of the second period in which he played only nine seconds. It was announced later in the period that he had a lower-body injury and would not return to the game. Meanwhile John Moore took a penalty at 8:01, which, fortunately, 54 seconds later was negated by P.K. Subban’s double minor for high sticking. However, Palmieri manage to again get into the offensive zone alone to get his second of the night and the period with a shorthander at 10:39. DeBrusk finally put the Bruins on the board when he notched his first of the season with 34 seconds remaining on Subban’s penalty.

DeBrusk’s goal was probably the only good thing to happen for Boston in the middle period and the Devis who continued to dominate the puck and the play regained their two-goal lead at 15:37 with a sick goal by Pavel Zacha, who deserved that marker.

With Krejci out the forward lines were a bit of a jumble though Pastrnak was moved back up to play with Bergeron and Marchand. However, the team’s inability to connect on passes or keep any sustained control of the puck continued to plague them. To be honest, the Bruins were lucky to have exited the second period just down by two goals.

While the third period tends to be Boston’s strongest period, the missed connections on passes and inability to maintain much offensive zone time continued well into the period. Jeremy Lauzon put the Bruins down a man when he was whistled for a tripping at 7:01 and then Marchand joined him in the box 35 seconds later on a high sticking call. Boston weathered the 1:25 time of five-on-three play and may have actually garnered some confidence from that. It was after these penalties and the killing of both of them that the Bruins began to get some rhythm.

With 2:11 remaining in regulation, New Jersey Devil Ty Smith took the penalty that no one likes—delay of game—when he shot the puck up and over the glass. The Bruins immediately pulled Halak for the extra attacker in a six-on-four power play. It took them some time but Pastrnak was able to get a power play goal 1:05 into the power play. At that point the Bruins used their time out hoping that with the remaining 1:06 in regulation they might be able to tie the game. Bergeron won both offensive faceoffs in that 66 seconds, but the Bruins still didn’t have enough quality control of the puck to pull off a miracle.

Boston lost 3-2 to the Devils on home ice. They now have a two-game losing streak, having lost to the New York Islanders this past Saturday on the road. Their next tilt is their game on Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe match which has been moved up one hour to 2:00pm ET for player safety and because of the sun. They will definitely want to figure out what had them so discombobulated on Thursday and come out strong in the outdoor game.