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Shorthanded effort falls short vs. Habs

November 23, 2014, 1:36 AM ET [13 Comments]
Ty Anderson
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It would be more than easy to pile on the Boston Bruins for tonight’s maddening 2-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden. The loss did push the Bruins’ 2014-15 record to 0-3-0 against their most hated rival, yes, but at some point you have to stop and acknowledge the truth surrounding this club.

That moment hit me tonight when I looked at the five-man unit the Bruins put out there for an attacking zone shift. It was Joe Morrow and Dougie Hamilton on the point, and a trio of Matt Fraser, Alexander Khokhlachev and Matt Lindblad up front. Of that five-man unit, nobody was over the age of 24. Lindblad, a Providence callup mere hours earlier, is 24 years and eight months old tomorrow, and skating in just the third game of his NHL career. Of that five-man unit, nobody had played more games at this level than Hamilton (skating in his 129th NHL game, mind you).

The Bruins, a team that took to the ice without five of their regulars, with Chris Kelly (undisclosed) and Brad Marchand (officially placed on injured reserve today) joining the walking dead on level nine, are hurting. And tonight’s loss did not come from a lack of trying. Not by any means.

“We played hard, we competed, we were smart, we didn’t give them much,” B’s coach Claude Julien said after the game. “You know, it’s unfortunate but this is where we realize that right now when you play a team that’s healthy and that’s going extremely well, it almost takes a perfect game.”

And perfect, it was not.

Boston fell behind 11:37 into the first when Andrei Markov fired one through traffic and by Tuukka Rask, putting the Habs on top 1-0, and giving Markov the 100th goal of his career. The goal was a product of a textbook power-play draw, too, as Tomas Plekanec won the faceoff, while Brendan Gallagher put the puck on a platter for the veteran Russian defenseman.

That was the lone goal in a strong first for Boston, led by a 13-to-6 shot advantage and aggressive forecheck, especially from a new-look first line with Milan Lucic skating Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson.

The Bruins didn’t find relief in the second period, though, as Soderberg spoiled a prime scoring chance by simply, well, not being selfish enough. Finding the puck on his stick in the slot, the big-bodied Swede tried dropping the puck back, but instead turned it over and let the Habs rush up towards Rask’s net. The end result? As you would expect, a Plekanec goal with a sea of humanity in front of the B’s crease.

Another self-inflicted wound, and another multi-goal lead for Montreal.

The 2-0 score would hold in the third, too, with Carey Price stopping all 13 shots thrown his way in the period, enough for a 33-save shutout, his first regular season shutout against the Black and Gold. It wasn’t exactly a hard night’s work for Price, either, as most of the Bruins’ chances were from the outside, low-percentage areas, or hail mary attempts from just inside the attacking blue line. The Bruins, without two of their most creative offensive talents in Marchand and David Krejci, didn’t get ‘dirty’ enough.

“We’re not scoring goals easily these days, so we’re really got to get our noses dirty in front of the net and throw some pucks in areas where we can jump on those loose pucks,” Julien admitted. “I think we’re trying to pick corners sometimes from some tough angles – top corners – and pucks are going over the net, and we’re probably better off just to throw those right at the goalie’s pads and then battle around there.”

But that’s so much easier said than done against Montreal. And the Bruins know it.

While their backend is known for the high-end puck-moving skill from P.K. Subban and Markov, the Habs are a club that love to clog the lanes within their zone and force you to try and shoot the puck through them.

“It’s pretty tough to get shots through. They’re clogging up the middle and it makes it tough especially when they’re playing with a lead,” said Hamilton. “We know from games before that they’re kind of sitting back in the third and couldn’t really break through it. Couldn’t get a balance or a mistake and that’s the way it is.”

It’s a tough mix to contend against, really. The Habs don’t let you get the front of the net, and even when you can, it’s a five-man own-zone commitment to blocking shots that stifles your ability to get high quality chances. Their center shifts from wall to wall to help the winger along the boards, slowing a team’s ability to move the puck back to their defensemen to a crawl, and their defensive unit is so good at finding the seams to clear the puck out. That’s when you need your creative offensive players to step up, and again, the B’s simply don’t have that right now with Krejci and Marchand out of action.

With the exception of maybe Soderberg, and maybe Eriksson (heavy emphasis on the maybe here), this current collection of talent does not have the skill to simply take over a game.

And that was a clear divide between an unhealthy B’s club and a healthy Montreal squad on Saturday night.

“We were on the puck. We were strong on it, but we need more,” Patrice Bergeron said.

The problem: I don’t know if you can get more right now.

Lucic fires warning shot to Jackets’ Prout

Not often is something that happened, oh I don’t know, 24 hours ago, the most interesting part of a media scrum involving a player. But tonight, in front of Milan Lucic’s locker, the 6-foot-4 winger was asked of his Friday night spat with Columbus defenseman Dalton Prout. And he didn’t hold back.

“I didn’t like it,” Lucic said of Prout’s punch. “The good thing is we get to play them two more times.

“I let him know that I wasn’t going to fight him so I wasn’t prepared and I let my guard down and that’s what happens sometimes when you let your guard down,” Lucic continued. “I’ve been in over 100 fights and I never took a shot like that so like I said we get two more opportunities to play the Blue Jackets and I’ll be ready.”

The sequence between Lucic-Prout was strange from the get-go. Despite his comments, Lucic looked like he wanted to fight. He looked like he was ready to start throwing blows. But he also looked like he was moving in slow-motion while Prout was rarin’ to go. The end result: Lucic was one-punched down to the ice.

“There are many a times that I could have done the exact same thing and I held off because a guy is refusing to drop his gloves,” Lucic said. “I find it to be gutless and that’s my thoughts on it.”

Up next

The Bruins return to game action on Monday night when they play host to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It will be the first meeting of the year between these two rivals. The Bruins won two of three against Pittsburgh last season.

Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
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