The 2023-2024 Boston Bruins love hockey so much that they simply can’t bear to play just 60 minutes.
In what’s becoming a troubling trend, the Bruins once again blew a third-period lead to find themselves in overtime, where a terrible too many men penalty led to a 3-2 Vancouver win.
This marked the fifth game in a row (and sixth out of seven) that the Bruins played beyond 60 minutes and the second time on the current road trip that the B’s gave away a multi-goal lead in the third.
To the highlights!
After a scoreless first period, Jesper Boqvist got the Bruins on the board with a beautiful deke to beat Thatcher Demko. Great pass from Justin Brazeau as well. 1-0 Bruins.
Some six minutes later, Danton Heinen (a British Columbia native, in case you hadn’t heard) got himself to the front of the net and wouldn’t be denied, making it 2-0 Bruins.
The score would remain 2-0 until late in the third period, when Brock Boeser took advantage of a little space and beat Jeremy Swayman from the circle. 2-1 Bruins.
After Vancouver applied plenty of pressure with the goalie pulled, Filip Hronek tied the game with a point shot with just over a minute left in the third. 2-2 game.
After a combination of Brad Marchand, Jake DeBrusk, and the coaching staff took a too many men penalty early in OT, Boeser wasted little time sending the fans home happy. 3-2 Canucks win.
Game notes
- It has turned into an “elephant in the room” sort of thing for this year’s Bruins, as the team simply can’t hold a lead to save its life. Gone are the days of snuffing out opposing teams’ hope in the third period. These days, the Bruins are determined to let their opponents hang around and turn the tables.
- There are plenty of bad ways to lose a hockey game, but somehow taking a too many men penalty in a 3-on-3 overtime has to rank amongst the most embarrassing. I get that there’s pressure to make line changes as quickly as possible in a 3-on-3 setting, but the combination of poor decision making from Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk (I think, forgive me if that wasn’t him) made that call a slam dunk for the refs. It wasn’t one of those marginal “eh, could go either way” calls.
- The game-tying goal for Vancouver was so simple that it boggles the mind: a super clean face-off win, a single pass back to the point, a shot on net from the blue line, a goal. The Bruins looked like passengers during that entire sequence.
- While some of the disparity can be attributed to the score at the time, the Bruins were outshot 29-12 in the second and third periods. Vancouver turned up the pressure in the third, and the Bruins had no answer.
- The Bruins’ power play let them down again tonight, coming up empty in four opportunities.
- The lone bright spot for the Bruins: their “Lunch Pail” type guys took care of business again. Boqvist has really come on strong as of late, and Heinen continues to produce. Brazeau looked the part of an NHLer again tonight as well.
- The flip side: where were the Bruins’ stars? Boeser had goals 32 and 33 of the season, while J.T. Miller had assists 48-50 and Quinn Hughes chipped in with an assist (58) as well. David Pastrnak had six shots on goal, while Marchand had one and DeBrusk had none.
The Bruins are back at it Monday night in Seattle, with a 10(ish) PM Eastern puck drop.
Leave a Reply