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The bruising
Milan Lucic put 477 shots on net in 280 games at TD Garden as a member of the Boston Bruins from 2007 to 2015. The 6-foot-4 winger put four on net in his first trip back to Boston as a member of the Los Angeles Kings, but it was a combined 53 shots from Lucic’s teammates that went historic for the Bruins (in a major negative way) in a 57-shot, 9-2 drubbing of the B’s on Tuesday night.
“The bottom line is a loss is a loss,” Boston coach
Claude Julien said after the defeat. “Whether it’s 2-1 or it’s 9-2. For us, it’s a loss. I think if anything it should create some anger and some determination to want to redeem yourself for an embarrassing loss. You don’t like to see it, especially when it’s at home, but we’ll go on the road here for these next six games and hopefully understand the importance of each and every one of those games that we’re going to be playing.”
In a game that featured the most shots against a Boston net since Mar. 18, 1965 (a 10-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings), the most goals surrendered since a 10-2 loss to the Washington Capitals back on Mar. 3, 2008, and the most goals allowed at home since Jan. 4, 2007 against Toronto (a 10-2 loss), the Black and Gold found their footing and seemingly hung with the Kings for most of the first period.
The night began with a bang behind
Brad Marchand’s 10th goal in the last 10 games (a power-play goal, his 25th goal of the season), and a 7-1 advantage in shots. But the Kings found a way to storm back behind
Jeff Carter’s 14th of the year, a power-play strike banked off
Kevan Miller and into the net, and
Marian Gaborik’s goal with just 15 seconds left in the first.
As the period ended with a 17-to-13 advantage in shots for LA -- or a 16-to-6 finish to the frame -- the momentum heavily shifted towards a heavy Kings attack that just broke the Bruins down.
“I think we played a solid first period,” Bruins d-man
Dennis Seidenberg noted before getting brutally honest about the team’s performance. “We played well and just gave up a late goal in the first, and then started out well in the second period and from then on when they scored the third goal we totally fell apart. We were just too loose all over the ice. Our coverage wasn’t good enough in front of our net, and they’re a good team and they used that to their advantage and scored goals.”
The Kings’ barrage continued with second period tallies from
Andy Andreoff (his fourth of the year), a power-play marker from
Drew Doughty, and a dagger from
Dwight King. That spelled the end of the night for
Tuukka Rask, who departed with a 27-of-32 night to his name, and brought
Jonas Gustavsson into the crease for his first game action since Jan. 26.
It didn’t matter much, as
Trevor Lewis struck for his sixth of the season, at the 18:56 mark.
In a 6-1 hole through 40 minutes of play, the Bruins somehow had to endure another 20 minutes of what was a slow death at the hands of Los Angeles. The Kings continued to bury the Bruins, too, with three third period tallies, which included one from Lucic (the one goal positively received by the B’s crowd). The B’s lone response came with
Tyler Randell’s fifth of the year and first since Dec. 5.
A loss is a loss, and the Bruins are aware that they all count the same, but the embarrassment felt in the room was clear. All of Boston’s leaders were present when the room opened up. And none held back.
“I feel like we got absolutely embarrassed,” B’s captain
Zdeno Chara. “They played a really good game, but we had nowhere near the game that we needed to play and it was embarrassing.
“You don’t see one guy who is not obviously mad or frustrated, but again, that frustration has to be taken obviously in the right way and use it towards some positives, and that’s what we have for each other in this locker room, so we have to hold each other accountable. But we’ve got to be better.”
It’s not hard to imagine the Bruins being better than they were tonight. It’s impossible not to, actually.
But this upcoming six-game road swing will undoubtedly determine the fate of the Bruins. Sure, I think the Bruins have a group that can flip the switch and make things interesting (beginning with their goaltender), but if they continue to struggle,
Loui Eriksson’s departure becomes an inevitability more than a possibility. And I don’t think the Bruins
want to sell -- and who could blame them, no team wants to miss the postseason two seasons in a row -- but if this six game trip brings the Bruins back to Boston with anything less than six or seven or a possible 12 points, then what’s the point of trying to tell anybody in town that you should be considered a legitimate contender?
“As a Bruins player there’s so much history here and when a game like that happens you get really ashamed of yourself,” David Krejci, a player longing for the playoffs, said. “It was a tough loss, it will be a tough night, but no one’s going to feel sorry for us. So we have a good challenge in front of ourselves, six games, and we’ll obviously take it one by one. But we have to wake up here and work tomorrow.”
Random thoughts and notes
- The obvious talk of this one was the return of Milan Lucic for the first time since being traded to Los Angeles last June. Lucic’s night began the way it often did during his time in Boston, with a thunderous check along the boards, this one on Zach Trotman, and finished with one goal and one assist, along with four shots on goal and four hits in 17:54 of time on ice. And one pretty damn cool video tribute.
L.A. coach
Darryl Sutter noted that the Garden’s video tribute to Lucic was ‘probably the best’ he’s seen, and Lucic himself acknowledge the importance of the warm reception given to him by Boston.
“A lot of special things happened to me here in Boston, from the management, to the coaches, to all my teammates that I had here over the last eight years,” Lucic said. “Especially the fans, they really helped me to become the player and the person that I’ve become today. So to have that moment in that second TV timeout there was really special and it was definitely a pretty cool feeling.”
It’s clear that Lucic is no longer the fear-inducing force he was for the Black and Gold years ago (though he’ll still show flashes of being an absolute force that can will his was through an entire roster), but overall, he’s still a pivotal player and it’s easy to see his worth to the Kings and envision what he could can do for them come springtime. At 27, the tank isn’t empty quite yet despite his punishing style.
In a night that was all Milan, what was left of a Garden crowd sung out a Luu once more, and cheered for a player that did it all in his time in the Hub during a postgame victory lap around the Garden.
“I didn’t have it planned. A couple of teammates there told me to go out and do it,” Lucic said of the lap. “I just remembered being back in Calgary when Iggy [Jarome Iginla] did it, so felt like doing it. So like I said, now I can finally – as much as I was looking forward to this game, I’m glad it’s finally over so I can kind of stop thinking about it and just focus on the rest of the road trip and all those type of things.”
- But just how did this game get so out of control for the Bruins?
Well, when you watch the Kings, you notice a few things, mainly the strong play they get from their centermen. But the main thing for me in this one was the ease with which the Kings broke out of their zone and began their breakouts the other way. Lucic’s goal was a prime example of this. The breakouts, coupled with way too many chances from prime scoring locations, simply broke the Bruins down.
It was interesting to watch how the Kings scored their goals, too. It all started with a fluky bounce off Miller’s stick. Then there was a breakdown when it came to who was picking up Gaborik -- the Bruins lacked a backchecking forward while Miller went to the front of the net (though there was already coverage there -- while Miller threw it to right Andreoff for the third goal. Even Boston’s fourth goal against (the Drew Doughty power-play goal) came with the puck loose under Rask. Fluky? A little bit, sure, but outright demoralizing for both a goaltender and defensive unit to feel like they’re getting completely buried. Which they absolutely, 100 percent were by the middle of the second period.
- It’s tough to say that this is just another loss. You understand the overall sentiment, but the Bruins struggled to take five-of-six points from their three games against the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple leafs out of the post All-Star break gate, and then got their doors absolutely blown the heck off when matched up against a good team. This happened when the B’s matched up against the Anaheim Ducks right before the break, too. It’s just the latest chapter of a season that’s left you wondering what exactly the Bruins have when it comes to this roster’s ceiling. (I’m still trying to figure that out myself.)
The Podcast to be Named Later with Andy Merritt
Up next
The Bruins will embark on a six-game road trip, the longest of the season, beginning with a Thursday night showdown with the Winnipeg Jets. This will be the second of two head-to-head meetings between the two this year. The Jets took the previous game by a 6-2 final on Opening Night back on Oct. 8.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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