Slow out of gate costly
B’s rally falls short as Stars win in OT
The bump in the standings that the Bruins got from their 3-2 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars at the Garden yesterday might have been considered a very good point earlier in the season.
The B’s battled back from a 2-0 hole against the vastly improved Ken Hitchcock-coached team to earn that point, displaying the character they’ve consistently shown in their current 9-0-4 run.
However, the standings say that the Bruins are legitimate contenders and, as such, they are now holding themselves to higher standards. And the fact that they started poorly in their last three games, all of which went to extra time, is not sitting well with the coaching staff.
With a delayed penalty call coming on defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, the Stars controlled possession in overtime until old friend Tyler Seguin circled through the slot and beat a helpless Anton Khudobin for the winner.
When you chase the game like the Bruins have been doing lately, it often ends badly.
“It’s another game where we got behind the 8-ball,” said defenseman Torey Krug. “We’d been focusing on having good starts, but we weren’t able to. We found a way to come back, but there are definitely some parts to our game that we have to start looking at and sharpening up. I’m sure we’ll take a look at it (today).”
The B’s kept it scoreless through the first period, but that was mostly because of Khudobin (29 saves), who held the fort while the Stars got 12 of the game’s first 13 shots on net. The B’s would eventually give up the first two goals in the second period.
The Stars are more stingy under Hitchcock, but while they limited the scoring chances, the Bruins did not take advantage of all the opportunities they did get, going 0-for-4 on the power play.
“The first two (periods), I thought we generated some action at their net,” said coach Bruce Cassidy. “But there were a couple of plays we run where we try to get pucks to the slot but not directly to the slot because they have a lot of sticks and numbers and I thought we kind of forced them before they were ready. And the puck recovery, once you do that, hasn’t been good enough for us. It’s one thing to force a play, but you better get the puck back.
“I just thought we didn’t wear them down enough with second chances. That’s been a problem in the (offensive) zone lately.”
The Stars snapped the scoreless deadlock 3:49 into the second period. The teams battled for possession up ice until Brett Ritchie pushed it over to an uncovered Stephen Johns on the right wing. The defenseman snapped a shot over Khudobin’s glove arm for the 1-0 lead.
The visitors doubled the lead at 8:15 on a faceoff play. With Jamie Benn lining up against Patrice Bergeron in the left circle, the Stars’ forward snapped a shot on which Khudobin had to make a quick pad save, but Alexander Radulov was right there to score on the rebound.
Shortly after that, Khudobin stopped Radek Faksa on a shorthanded breakaway to keep his team in the game.
Still, the B’s had little going on, so Cassidy pulled out the line blender that had been gathering dust during the current 13-game run.
Noel Acciari remained on the bench for much of the second period while Cassidy put Riley Nash on the fourth line with Sean Kuraly and Tim Schaller. The move helped produce a goal. Kuraly and Nash won a puck along the right boards, getting it back to Charlie McAvoy, who in turn swung it over to Zdeno Chara at the left point. With all the Stars’ defenders on the right side, it became a mano-a-mano battle between Chara and goalie Kari Lehtonen and the captain blasted a slapper home on the short side with 3:32 left in the period.
For much of the third, the Stars gave the B’s little, taking away the slot area and getting pucks out of their zone quickly. The Bruins would have to manufacture something to even it and they did, tying it with 8:39 remaining in regulation. With Jake DeBrusk working the front of the net, Ryan Spooner flung a longrange shot that bounced off Lehtonen, then defenseman Esa Lindell before rolling over the goal line.
But, thanks to Seguin, one point was all they could muster, as the B’s fell to 1-6 in games decided in overtime.
A better start by the Bruins might have helped avoid that extra session.