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The TD Garden was a party midway through the third period of Saturday’s matchup between the Boston Bruins and visiting Buffalo Sabres. Led by David Krejci’s third period bat-in of a goal through Chad Johnson, the Bruins had a 3-1 lead, and with the rival Montreal Canadiens losing elsewhere yet again, saw first place in the Atlantic Division waiting for them.
But in the final 9:31 of the third period, the Black and Gold crumbled to the tune of five unanswered goals, and somehow ended up on the wrong side of a 6-3 final against Jack Eichel’s Sabres.
“That was our team not respecting the game of hockey,… Claude Julien said. “When you take a lead like that and you make some of those plays that we made, you’ve got yourselves to blame.
“An unforced error and an icing should have never been icing and then blind back pass there just inside the blue line with a 3-2 lead, you’re shooting yourselves in the foot so that’s what we did tonight.…
For the Bruins, who took yet another loss on a night that could have ended with them overtaking the Habs for first place in the division, this felt yet a throwback to those October nights where every little mistake seemed to lead to a bigger mistake which of course ended up in the back of their cage.
“We didn’t respect the game plan and we just kind of sat back,… Boston winger Brad Marchand said after Saturday night’s collapse. “But we didn’t play on our toes, we didn’t play physical, we didn’t continue to go after it and couple mistakes ended up in a goal and they got the momentum and they just kind of rolled from there. So you know those are things that we have to better at. Especially these are big points we could have jumped ahead to first tonight I think so that would’ve been nice.…
It was an undoubtedly shocking ended to a B’s game that really started with a strong response following Evander Kane’s opening goal 5:13 into the second period, as the B’s scored two goals in a span of 1:16 to take the lead (the first of which coming just 36 seconds after Kane’s tally).
And when the aforementioned Krejci tally pushed the B’s lead to two, it felt like game over in the Hub. Or at least a normally semi-reserved Garden crowd inexplainably resorting to the wave told you so.
But the Sabres found life with Ryan O’Reilly’s goal at 10:21 of the first, and flew from there.
“We felt like we were going to get an opportunity in the third period,… Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said after the win, Buffalo’s first in as many games against the Bruins. “To get the tying goal and we get down by three to one and looks a little daunting, but it’s a huge goal by [O’Reilly] to get that goal for us to get us to one and I think there’s a little bit of a barrage at the end with the two empty netters to make it six but, I really liked the game winning goal, the forecheck goal, O’Reilly wins the puck for us goes east-west with it and brings it out to [Jamie] McGinn and gets us a huge goal.…
B’s netminder Jonas Gustavsson took the loss behind a nightmarish finish of a 23-of-27 night (Gustavsson stopped just five of eight third period shots thrown his way),
“I feel like three out of four goals were weird,… admitted Gustavsson. “You can’t really practice those – a lot of bounces and screens and I don’t know. Maybe I thought I saved the second one when it bounced behind the net there. I thought I managed to get a good seal there but I guess I was a split second too late. So maybe if I get a better push there, maybe I can get that one.
“Other than that, I felt like I probably would have played the same way if I faced those situations again, it’s just that sometimes those pucks find its way into the back of the net and other nights they’re not. But, like I said, no matter what, you can always go to yourself and I wanted to try to make one more save there when it’s needed.…
The defeat was the second in a row for the second-place B’s (and second in a row at home, too, for that matter), but remains just their third regulation loss in the last 17 (11-3-3).
Random thoughts and notes
- The big announcement following this game, of course, was the word that Bruins general manager Don Sweeney will (most likely) loan second-year pro David Pastrnak to the Czech Republic for the 2016 World Junior Championships in Finland.
“The [NHL] roster freeze will be over on the 28th – we are going to make him available [for the Czech Republic] at that particular time unless we have injuries that would dictate otherwise,… Sweeney said of the Pastrnak situation during his first intermission media scrum. “David’s played two games since being out for seven weeks. Obviously the injury took longer; it was in his best interest to make sure that he was fully healthy. He is fully healthy and now we need to get him back to where he can impact our lineup and if indeed he does join the team on the 28th over in Finland, we think that based on last year, his experience there and rolling out of that tournament with the confidence that he had, that he’ll come back to the full level that he had really had gotten to last year in impacting our lineup.…
Out of NHL action since Oct. 31 with a fracture in his foot, the 19-year-old has spent the last week plus down with the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League on a conditioning stint, and has recorded one assist and two shots on goal in two games with the P-Bruins. But with the roster freeze ending on Monday, the Bruins had two options: return No. 88 to Boston, or let him play in the World Juniors. And with the B’s offense rolling right now, the choice was for Pastrnak to head to Finland.
“The rules dictate we have to make him available if he’s not on an NHL lineup and I think at this point in time David was open to anything and everything to get him back up to the level that he wants to be at,… Sweeney said. “He came out of the tournament last year with a real high level of confidence as to what he had done there and we expect him to return to that same level when he does come back.…
Pastrnak is a huge piece of the Bruins’ future. And with the injury risk -- look at the Leafs’ William Nylander getting absolutely smoked by a Swiss defenseman on Saturday -- there’s some slight concern when it comes to letting Pastrnak play in this tournament that comes with no tangible gain for the Black and Gold. But given Pastrnak’s absence, and the need to get legitimate competition under his belt before returning to the NHL lineup on a regular basis, sending the skater with two goals and four points in 10 games for the Big B’s this year over to Europe for an all-out war of a tourney, makes sense.
“There’s going to be a risk at any level of playing. You could argue that you’ve got a lot of bigger, stronger guys out here that would take advantage of a similar situation,… Sweeney said of the risk. “Hockey is hockey; injuries are going to happen. He’s obviously coming off an extended injury himself, so you’re going to run that risk every time you step on the ice regardless of where you’re playing.…
Pastrnak recorded one goal and three points in five games for the Czech Republic at last year’s WJCs.
- So, here’s something new. Following last night’s game, I returned to the Garden press box for a postgame podcast with the New England Hockey Journal’s Andy Merritt. Here’s the first episode of our Podcast To Be Named Later, and we touch on everything from Jack Eichel to the B’s struggles at home, and take a peek ahead at what may be the most important Winter Classic in the history of the event.
Up next
The Bruins are back at it on Sunday night-ish with a road head-to-head against the Ottawa Senators. This will be the first of four meetings between the Atlantic Division foes this season.
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.