Last night before the game, I said to IW that I wasn’t sure I was up for watching a Devils game. When he turned on HBO Max as we began dinner, I had hope that he, too, wasn’t feeling up for the game. Nope, turns out I was wrong. And the torture began.
If you’re like me, you’ve become used to the Boston Bruins pattern of play this season: leave the first period scoreless, go down by a goal, go down by another goal, wake up and score one, lather, rinse, and repeat. Honestly, watching this team before the third period is an exercise in frustration because they really seem to like coming from behind. Well, that works well when your team doesn’t lose a key member during the game.
David Krejci left the game in the first with a lower body injury, not to return. Anders Bjork was lost for a period of time because he needed stitches after being roughed up by PK Subban. In fact during that 4 minute power play, the B’s actually got on the board thanks to Jake DeBrusk.
At long last, Jake DeBrusk has his first goal of the season. pic.twitter.com/XTWk2snIHn
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 19, 2021
However, this didn’t mean much since at the beginning of that time of advantage, Kyle Palmieri scored his second of the game, making it 2-0 before DeBrusk’s goal and 2-1 after.
Then Pavel Zacha added one more before the end of the second to make the lead that dreaded and most dangerous of leads, 2 goals.
But, the Bruins didn’t have much fight in them, only getting within one goal of a tie and only after going empty net. But Charlie McAvoy did get his second of the year.
Bruins make it a 3-2 game. pic.twitter.com/PfvUBMwZB2
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 19, 2021
They couldn’t pull out the win.
The defense looked sloppy. Was it because Matt Grzelcyk is greatly missed? Perhaps.That Moore-Carlo pairing was bad. It could be that the B’s have had too much time off between games and are rusty. It must be frustrating to be at game speed and strength only to have to sit and wait for the other team to be out of Covid quarantine. The Bruins should never have 5 days off between games.
The Bruins now have 3 regulation losses on the season: 2 to the New York Islanders and 1 to the New Jersey Devils. The lesson here is to beware teams with the word “New” in their geographic location.
Next the Bruins will take on Philadelphia for a “home” game in Lake Tahoe. Finally, a team the Bruins have a 4-0 record against! That game was originally scheduled for 3pm ET but has been moved up to 2pm due to issues with cloud cover. That game is on NBC on Sunday.
Start time of Honda #NHLOutdoors Sunday changed to 11 a.m. PT. https://t.co/IFDsUp05Tm pic.twitter.com/T0DDS2Mjzj
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 19, 2021
Pasta with Kuraly and Bjork. That was interesting
And Kulikov as a net-front presense!
Oh right – that was a different shift.
Well, the guys got some issues at the moment. Got going far too late.
Subban seemed incensed at the 4min call, but I really dont see what his argument was?
Too tired to watch live, but watched replay this morning. Leah’s on school hols this week so no need to get up early but I’m flaked by 11. Getting too much sleep maybe?!
A body at rest, et al.
Ah – so inertia is to blame! makes sense
The Bruins do seem prone to losing their edge when having more than a couple of days off. Having both Grizz & Zboril out did not help. Nor did having Krejci leave after 1 shift.
I’m not letting them of the hook, but there were complications.
Yeah, the injuries are mounting up.
Bjork was leaking pretty decisively.
Good Morning!
Yup, tough game to watch. The Bruins looked great during the last 8 minutes or so of the game, but by then it was too late. Missing Krejci hurt. None of the D pairs seemed in sync. The Devils are wicked fast. The sun was… No, wait. That’s Sunday’s excuse.