Tuukka back, Bruins flop
Look listless as stumbling Oilers win
The Bruins welcomed Tuukka Rask back between the pipes yesterday just in time for them to play one of their worst games in a while.
The B’s barely showed a pulse in the offensive zone, allowed a tooeasy chance at the exact wrong time and deserved to have their four-game win streak snapped, which the struggling Edmonton Oilers were only too happy to do, 4-2, at the Garden. “Tonight, I think we just lacked energy,” said coach Bruce Cassidy. “I don’t think it would have mattered who was in net. We just didn’t have a lot of jump.”
As poorly as the Bruins played in the first two periods, in which they were outshot 27-11, they were still in position to steal a win when the third period started 2-2.
The Oilers got the eventual winner 2:07 in, though, when the seas seemed to part for Ryan Strome. Leon Draisaitl carried the puck up the left wing and dished to Strome in the middle of the ice, a prime scoring chance. With defensemen Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo in too deep and not enough back pressure from the forwards, Strome had the time and space to snap a perfect shot over Rask’s glove just under the bar.
“It’s a 3-on-3 with a line that’s defensive-minded (Jordan Szwarz, Noel Acciari, Tim Schaller). In the offensive zone we weren’t hard enough and then coming back into our own end, even though it looked like the ‘D’ got crossed up and certainly got picked there, but if we come back harder into our zone they might not get that play,” said Cassidy. “So that’s disappointing.”
Faced with taking a loss , the B’s did throw some pucks at Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot, but could not get another one by him. Draisaitl added the empty-netter to seal it with 50.7 seconds left, .
At first, this game looked like it was there for the taking. The talented but sinking Oilers, 26th in the NHL in goals-against average (3.25), had lost four of their previous five. The Bruins took the first lead of the game in the first period on their first power-play goal in seven games (0-for-17).
Krug took the puck from Rask in his own zone and headed straight up the middle. Once across the blue line, Krug dished to David Pastrnak on the right wing. Pastrnak, who scored the game-winner Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins on a breakaway, made a pretty toe-drag move to the inside to avoid defenseman Oscar Klefbom and beat Talbot with a quick snap shot at 14:03.
The B’s could generate no sustained offense, though.
“I thought they played well, but I think a lot of it was us. I don’t think we were quite ready to go,” said Riley Nash. “It seemed like every time we got in their zone and it was one-and-done for a lot of the night. We can look within ourselves for that. I just don’t think we were hard enough on pucks. Sometimes when you’ve got nights like that, you’ve got to find a way to get it done.”
As the game wore on, the Oilers gained some pep. Edmonton outshot the B’s 17-5 in the second and took a 2-1 lead.
First, a Krug clear attempt went right to Zack Kassian at the right point. Kassian fed Bruins killer Patrick Maroon down the on the right wing and Maroon beat Rask — who was caught cheating — to the short side at 9:50. Then the Oilers took the lead at 14:20 after the B’s should have gotten the puck out of the zone yet again.
Pastrnak tried to chip the puck off the glass, but Mike Cammalleri made a terrific play to reach back and keep the puck in the zone. He dished to Adam Larsson at the blue line and, with Milan Lucic driving the net, Larsson’s shot/pass deflected in off Charlie McAvoy.
The B’s tied it up against 15:31: Nash took the puck in deep and made a pretty crossing feed to David Krejci, who roofed it over Talbot (23 saves). That was not enough to reverse the tide of the game, though. After Strome buried his terrific chance early in the third, the more deserving team came out on top, handing Rask (32 saves) his eighth loss against three wins and two overtime/shootout losses.
“It’s like when a pitcher goes out and pitches his heart out and the other guys just can’t get any runs for him,” said Nash of Rask. “That’s the way it’s gone for us. He’s playing so well and playing hard, it’s a battle to get him anything for whatever reason. Obviously I feel bad for him, because he probably deserved a better outcome tonight. Hopefully we can refocus and get him going. And get some winning streaks going for both our guys.”