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Playoff-like hockey

January 27, 2023, 2:41 PM ET [50 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
Boston Bruins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
When the inevitable happens and the Toronto Maple Leafs lose in the first round (just joking, sort of) a potential Bruins/Lightning second round playoff series would be fun, Thursday’s contest between the two felt like playoff hockey.

Sure, not the outcome the Bruins wanted, but had Brandon Carlo not had the rug pulled out from underneath him, taking goalie Linus Ullmark out in the process, the end result could have been in the Bruins favor.

They played well enough for the game to have gone their way.

“They got a lucky goal on that third one. We made a couple mistakes,” Brad Marchand said. “They’re a good team. You make mistakes, they’re going to capitalize. That’s a hell of a team over there.”

As funky as the Lightning third goal was, their second goal of the night that came 58 seconds into the third period didn’t come without controversy.

Brayden Point’s goal came directly off a faceoff inside the Bruins zone. With David Krejci lining up across from Steven Stamkos, Krejci felt the faceoff was unfair and Stamkos should have been tossed from the dot.

"I didn't see the replay, but I felt that he went straight for my stick before the puck touched the ice," said Krejci. "You're not allowed to do that; I've gotten kicked out for that many times. I don't want to accuse the ref. That's how I felt But I haven't seen it yet."

Point’s goal off the faceoff is not why the Bruins lost, far from it. It was an entertaining back and forth hockey game between two good teams.

Sounds and looked like playoff hockey to me.

“I thought [Ullmark] made a lot of saves look easy,” head coach Jim Montgomery said. “[Andrei} Vasilevskiy played great, too. He made a lot of high-quality saves. It was a playoff-type game.”

The Bruins dodged a massive bullet after Charlie McAvoy took an ugly spill into the boards shoulder first. McAvoy remained down for almost a minute before gingerly skating to the Bruins locker room.

McAvoy didn’t spend too much time in the room, shortly coming back to the ice to rejoin the Bruins for a power play opportunity minutes later.

"He's a warrior, glad he came back,” Montgomery said. “I think that's the biggest positive in the game. He went hard into those boards and he's healthy so that's good.”

Third periods have usually been where the Bruins have been able to shine. Either putting games away or completing comebacks.

The Lightning got the better of them in the third.

“We had a couple of opportunities we didn’t bury,” added Marchand. “They’ve been to three finals the last number of years, so they still have the majority of their core and an incredible goalie. With that, they’re going to be competitive.”

Thursday’s contest was the third of four meetings between the two this season. The Bruins won the previous two.

The two division rivals will conclude their season series on Mar. 25.

Something tells me that won’t be the last time those two teams see each other this season.
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