Lightning strikes extend recent penalty kill woes
The Bruins’ penalty killing unit had climbed all the way up to the top spot in the NHL a week ago. But after allowing a power-play goal in three straight games they fell into a tie for third place, with an 85 percent kill rate, going into last night’s game.
It didn’t get any better last night when they allowed two more on five tries in a 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Garden.
The first of the three games, a 7-4 loss in Edmonton when the Oilers scored three man-up goals, could reasonably be viewed as an aberration, as they caught the B’s on the rear end of a back-to-back and the third game in four nights. But the B’s also allowed costly power-play goals in their losses to Toronto and Ottawa.
Before the game, interim coach Bruce Cassidy said he doesn’t have any major issues other than poor execution at the wrong time.
“Clearly it’s something we’ve been very good at it and we want to get back to posting zeros in those situations,” said Cassidy. “But I think some of it is a bit of our composure on the clears and in fronting shots versus boxing out.
“I don’t think structurally we’re bad,” Cassidy added. “We’re giving up elbow shots, it’s not like they’re second and third chances. So if we’re going to go for the block, we’ve just got to get it.”
In last night’s game, Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov was left all alone for a backdoor goal in the second period. And then in the third, the Lightning’s insurance goal by Kucherov pinballed off Zdeno Chara and Adam McQuaid before going in.
“We need to be better there,” said Chara. “There was some bad bounces on the last one, that’s going to happen, but we need to be better. It starts with us on the ice. We need to take away the team’s top players, give them as little as possible and be willing to do whatever it takes to kill those.
“It’s been working for us the whole year. We know we can do the job. It’s slipped the last few games. We have to get on a roll again and kill those penalties.” Formation alteration Cassidy changed up the forward lines again, putting the right-shooting Drew Stafford back on David Krejci’s left wing, moving Matt Beleskey down to the fourth line left wing, Riley Nash over to the right side on the fourth line and bumping Noel Acciari up to the third line right wing with Ryan
Spooner and Frank Vatrano. It didn’t last long into the game. In the second period, Cassidy flipped Stafford and Vatrano and also switched Acciari and Beleskey. Nothing worked for long.
“I think (a solution) is in the room; I really do,” said Cassidy. “If we start looking for excuses outside of that room I think we’re in trouble. I’m not saying there won’t be a player that could help us here or there, but I think it’s in the room and it’s got to come from within the room.” Top lines vanish
Since David Backes scored in the first period in Toronto on Monday, the only B’s even-strength goals have been Dominic Moore’s garbage time goal in that 4-2 loss and Nash’s bank shot off Bolts defenseman Victor
Hedman last night. Nothing from the top three lines. . . .
Patrice Bergeron won 21-of-28 faceoffs, but that’s about the only place he had success. He missed an open net tip-in opportunity in the first, then a backdoor chance in the second. He suffered his third straight minus-2 game. Brad Marchand also took his second straight minus-2. . . . Frank Vatrano’s goal-less streak stretched to 12 games.