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Believe it or not, the Boston Bruins have a goaltending issue.
The problem is not with Tuukka Rask, who has been one of the league’s best goalies, of course, but rather his backups, as Anton Khudobin surrendered four goals on 27 shots against in a Thursday night loss to the Anaheim Ducks that dropped his record to 1-5-0 with an .882 save percentage.
“It’s real tough,… the 30-year-old Khudobin said after the loss, the B’s fifth in the last six games. “I thought the first period was pretty good. The second, a couple of unlucky bounces. The third goal went through my five-hole, went behind, and then came back… cluster-[expletive].…
But the problems went beyond Khudobin.
On the second leg of a back-to-back that began in Pittsburgh the night before, and on their third game in four nights, the Bruins simply ran out of gas against a rested and physical Ducks group.
“It’s our third game in four nights, and it showed in some of the kind of goals we gave up, mistakes and giving the lead,… B’s coach Claude Julien said. “I thought we had a decent start, and I thought our third period, we at least gave it a good push. We couldn’t get that goal, but I think the guys tried for three tough games in four nights. I appreciated the effort that the guys gave in third period to try and get ourselves back into it. So, it’s not easy when you come back home and you have to face a team that’s been well-rested. It’s two weeks in a row, so it’s disappointing for everybody.…
The B’s best run of the night came on a 13-second stretch that featured goals from Zdeno Chara (his first in 22 games) and Austin Czarnik (his second in three games), but it was the Ducks that answered back with first period goals from Andrew Cogliano and Kevin Bieksa. Both goals against came off some straight-up terrible luck for the Black and Gold, as it was David Krejci that put the Cogliano goal into his own net while the Bruins simply forgot that Bieksa was exiting the box and allowed the veteran defender to charge in on a breakaway for his second goal of the season.
“Until then we had momentum,… Krejci said. “First shift after [the] timeout they come hard. Kind of tough break. It was me who put it in. We had our coverage. We had our guys. Just unfortunate that it ends up in our net, and then, you know, they got back into the game and we had ourselves a hockey game. You know, I didn’t think we played that bad, but we just came up short today.…
The Ducks jumped to a 3-2 lead behind Josh Manson’s first goal of the season, but Krejci countered that with a power-play goal, but it was Rickard Rakell that put the Ducks up 4-3 through 40 minutes.
In a run-and-gun game with a deeper lineup, this was not a game that suited the Bruins.
“Trading chances is a coin flip and we’re getting the wrong side of the coin flip,… David Backes said of the nature of their loss to the visiting Ducks. “We’ve got to play our game where we like the percentages and how we’re going to win games – pucks deep, taking care of it, and eliminating the opponent’s chances is certainly a good portion of that.…
Anaheim goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 31 saves in the win.
This and that
- This was the conclusion of the eighth set of three games in four nights. It’s December. That’s just flatout insanity. You knew this was going to be a condensed schedule because of the World Cup of Hockey, but this is damn near impossible for a team to survive in the opening 32 games of the year. They’ve also skated in six sets of back-to-backs to date, and are 1-5-0 in the second leg of those back-to-backs (all have been with travel, too) after Thursday’s 4-3 loss to the Ducks. It’s actually kind of amazing that the Bruins -- an effort team this year versus the skill teams they’ve been over the last six years or so -- have been as strong as they have this year given that kind of grind.
- The Ducks have now won six games in a row against the Bruins. Just a brutal matchup.
- There’s a ton of chemistry budding between Austin Czarnik and Ryan Spooner on that third line right now. What’s interesting about that, too, is that both Czarnik and Spooner are pass-first talents.
- You have to wonder what the endgame is in regards to Jimmy Hayes in Boston? One night after Hayes whiffed on a top notch power-play opportunity, and then nearly gave the Penguins a goal by way of a horrific neutral zone giveaway, Hayes was scratched for Anton Blidh, a player with four games of NHL experience that was recalled that same morning. The Bruins have tried just about everything with Hayes, and still, No. 11 has just one goal and zero assists this season.
Up next
For the first time since Nov. 20 and 21 (the Bruins have played 14 games in 24 games since then), the Bruins will have two full days off before they return to action with a Sunday matinee against the visiting Los Angeles Kings. It’s the first of two meetings between the two this season.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010 and has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013. Ty is also the Boston Bruins beat writer and columnist for WEEI.com, and can also be found in the New England Hockey Journal. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.