Through three games, this is what we know when it comes to the Atlantic Division’s second round matchup: The Montreal Canadiens are taking advantage of every mistake made by the Boston Bruins. Meanwhile, the Bruins, an opportunistic team if there ever was one during the regular season, aren’t doing nearly enough to force Montreal to make mistakes that they themselves can take advantage of.
For the Black-and-Gold, who are now in a 1-2 series hole by way of tonight’s 4-2 loss, their first Game 3 loss since the 2009 second round series against Carolina, it’s become a maddening nightly struggle.
Tonight was no different.
Midway through the first period, in a scoreless duel of who’ll blink first between Montreal’s Carey Price and the B’s Tuukka Rask, a puckhandling mistake made by the 27-year-old Rask kept the puck in the Boston zone with the Tomas Plekanec line against the Bruins’ third pairing of Torey Krug and Kevan Miller. With some miscommunication between Rask and Miller (who’s, with due respect, is perhaps the club’s weakest puck-mover in the lineup right now), the puck stayed in Boston’s end, and when a blown assignment left Plekanec wide open, No. 14 wasted no time in burying his third goal of the postseason. A brutal break, sure, but it’s only one goal.
Less than four minutes later, with a penalty against P.K. Subban completely passing a lifeless Boston power play by, the Bruins sorta just kinda forgot that Subban, the series’ most dynamic player through two games, was coming out of the box.
That led to a breakaway -- and a beautiful goal -- for Montreal’s No. 76. In the blink of an eye: 2-0.
Uglier than the first, but still just two goals. The Bruins can erase that type of deficit in their sleep.
But the backbreaker came late in the second period, when a breakaway by Dale Weise gave Montreal a 3-0 lead on Rask and company. Yes, you read that right: a breakaway goal by Dale Weise. For Rask, that was the third goal on just 20 shots faced (at that point), and one that he certainly would’ve wanted a re-do on given the fact that it’s, uh, well, Dale (expletive) Weise shooting it.
As Weise pumped his chest, mocking Milan Lucic’s celebration, the Habs were rolling.
Not in terms of pace of play, mind you, but when it came to capitalizing on their chances.
Story. Of. The. Series.
The Bruins would, however, fire up their comeback machine with a late second period marker from Patrice Bergeron, and even made things interesting when Jarome Iginla tipped home an Andrej Meszaros wrister with 2:16 to go. And even though they made it close, for the first time this series, it was too little too late. Unlike Game 2, or even Game 1 when you look at how the Bruins poured it on and forced overtime when it was the crunch time, the Bruins were finally burned by their inability to put forth a 60-minute effort against the Habs. At the Bell Centre, and in a series where they’ve led for all of about 12 minutes, this is the epitome of playing with fire.
Though it wouldn’t be a Bruins-Canadiens game without a bit of controversy. With the B’s pouring on a 6-on-5 attack in the Montreal end in the final seconds of their eventual loss, Subban, without the help of a check or anything even close to that, knocked Price’s net off its moorings. Uh, about that…
So, I mean, here’s the thing: Subban’s a Norris Trophy winning defenseman. He’s one of the game’s best skaters in all three zones. He knows where the net is. I don’t think that’s a really deniable point. I also know that he was entirely aware of what he was doing there, too. Again, I’m not sure if that’s deniable, really. It was a veteran move. It was also a penalty that went uncalled, really.
From the NHL rulebook (Section 63.2):
A minor penalty shall be imposed on any player who delays the game by deliberately displacing a goal post from its normal position. The Referee shall stop play immediately when the offending team gains possession of the puck.
Additionally, if there’s not enough time left in the game to serve the delay of game penalty, the penalty then becomes a penalty shot. Were the Bruins robbed of a penalty shot in the waning moments of what would’ve been a one-goal loss had it not been for the empty netter seconds later? Sure sounds like it. And man, wouldn’t that be one tough pill to swallow for just about everybody in Boston. But really, that call? In that building? Referee Tim Peel’s incompetency is well documented at this point, but I don’t think even he could handle the death threats that’d come his way if he had the stones to make that call against the home team. No one could, really.
Regardless, the potential blown call is not why the Bruins lost Tuesday night’s game.
It’s so far down on the list that entertaining the notion of any sort of ‘Montreal Screwjob’ is laughable.
The Bruins lost Game 3 because they wanted until their backs were against the wall so much so that they had nowhere to go. They finally ran into a wall. This is a series where the Bruins have repeatedly saved their best for last, and against most, that’s just plain old dangerous this time of year. This is a Montreal team that plays well with the lead, and one that has a goaltender playing some great hockey right now. This is not the 2012-13 Toronto Maple Leafs you’re dealing with here.
You can’t just spot the Habs a two-goal or three-goal lead every night and win.
And dare I say that Rask has to take his game up a notch here? I’m not saying that he has to stop absolutely everything -- I don’t know what he really could’ve done on that Subban breakaway goal -- but there are decisions (playing the puck on Montreal’s first goal) and giving up an easy breakaway goal to Weise) that need to be corrected if he’s going to duel with Montreal’s Price. Through three games, Rask’s stopped just 76 of 86 shots thrown his way, good for a mild .884 save percentage.
To compete with Price, the Bruins need more from No. 40.
And at this point, I think we’re about another dud away from sending out a missing persons report on the Krejci line. While Iginla was credited with the tip on the B’s second goal of the night, the trio that dominated the regular season has looked a step too slow throughout this round (and for much of the postseason for that matter), and with the Vaneks, Plekanecs, and Subbans scoring, it’s on Boston’s trio of Iginla, David Krejci, and the hit-or-miss Lucic to kick it into gear.
If not, you’re talking about a 3-1 hole heading back to Boston for a Saturday night Game 5.