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The Boston Bruins looked every bit like a team that had just returned to Boston after playing three games in four nights in Western Canada in their 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Monday night.
“There’s no doubt it has a certain element to tonight’s game, but at the same time, I think to overcome that stuff, you’ve got to be smarter,… B’s coach Claude Julien said after the loss, which put an end to the club’s eight-game point streak (6-0-2). “I think we took a lot of penalties that just kind of gave them momentum, and then over-taxed a lot of our players. So I think we needed to be smarter in that area. Again, the type of goals we gave [up] tonight, letting guys cut right to the net with the puck.
“We didn’t do a very good job there, but you’re looking at the clock, and you’re telling yourself if you can at least squeak out a point out of this game, and then who knows what can happen in overtime, and that’s what you’re looking for, that stage. Again, we took a penalty, I think maybe even two, in the third period, and we were never able to get our momentum again.…
But despite the huge gap in shots -- the Preds put 33 shots on net compared to the B’s 17 shots -- the Bruins were in this game for the most part. As much as one can when getting doubled up in shots.
The Bruins opened up the game’s scoring behind defenseman Kevan Miller’s second goal of the season, scored just 4:13 into the first period. The goal, with assists credited to David Krejci and Matt Beleskey, was Miller’s first since Oct. 14 and his first goal at TD Garden this year.
Nashville matched Miller’s tally late in the first period by way of Roman Josi’s rocket of a wrister that beat Jonas Gustavsson up high for his sixth goal of the year.
The power-play goal against, which came at 19:35 of the first period, put an end to a streak that saw the Black and Gold successfully kill off their last 13 penalties against.
But when the Bruins’ lethal power play was put to actual work on an embellishing call against Nashville winger James Neal, the Black and Gold responded with a power-play tally of their own.
Behind Loui Eriksson’s power-play putaway at the front of Carter Hutton’s crease for Eriksson’s 10th of the season, the B’s regained their one-goal edge.
Once again, it would not hold.
Josi and the Preds stormed back just 27 seconds later, once again on the power play, when he was able to break through just about every single one of Boston’s four penalty killers, and even a sprawled out Jonas Gustavsson for his second of the game (and seventh of the season).
It was clear that the Bruins’ inability to stay out of the box (the B’s finished the night with 10 penalties, eight of which were minors), took its toll on a team that lost bottom-six forward and penalty-killing centerman Joonas Kemppainen with an undisclosed injury early into the night.
“[With] those penalties, you’re utilizing the same players all the time. So when you’ve got a short bench, and you’re having to over-utilize certain players, it makes it really tough,… Julien, who gave added PK time to Landon Ferraro and Matt Beleskey, noted. “I tried to use a couple of other guys there a few times on the penalty kill, but a lot of damage was done, especially in that second period.…
And by the third, after going over 34 minutes without an even-strength shot on goal, the Bruins looked spent. Reeling and the on the ropes, the Predators struck behind Viktor Arvidsson’s third of the year, scored through a poke-checking Gustavsson with just 4:56 to go in the third period.
“I thought he was going to have to make a shot there but he faked a shot and then I was feeling okay, then I’m going to be close enough to him so I can at least poke the puck away,… said Gustavsson. “I don’t know how far away I am from poking it, but that’s how it is. Sometimes you manage to get that poke or whatever that situation is and sometimes you don’t and they score a goal.…
As Hutton earned the win behind a 15-of-17 showing, and with the Bruins held to just six third-period shots, Nashville left the TD Garden with a regulation win for the first time since Nov. 2003.
Gustavsson took his second loss of the year behind a 30-of-33 showing.
Notes: With an assist on Eriksson’s goal, Patrice Bergeron tied Bruins legend Milt Schmidt for 11th on the club’s all-time scoring list at 475. Bergeron is just 12 points away from Peter McNab for 10th on the all-time list… The Bruins took a season-low 17 shots in the loss, their lowest number since a 17-shot night against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 18, 2014… Defensemen Colin Miller, and Dennis Seidenberg, and forward Jimmy Hayes sat as healthy scratches for the second straight game… Nashville’s Viktor Arvidsson has scored goals in two straight games.
Up next: The Bruins head to Montreal for a Wednesday night affair with the Montreal Canadiens. The Bruins are winless in two head-to-heads with Montreal this season, including a meltdown of a 4-2 loss to the Habs in their last trip to the Bell Centre on Nov. 7.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Boston Chapter of the Pro Hockey Writers Association since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.