For the third game in a row, the Boston Bruins have failed to make a comeback.
Most expected the Bruins would fumble when it came to regaining momentum after the Pittsburgh Penguins snapped their 19-game point streak, but no one assumed they would come up empty on their three-game road trip.
The trouble in last night’s game started at puck drop for the Bruins, as it has for the past three games. The Jets drew first blood 1:08 into the first period on a tip-in from Blake Wheeler who was wide open in front of the net. The Bruins continued to play sluggishly, allowing the Jets to rule the pace of the game for almost ten minutes. After those ten minutes, the Bruins seemed to come to life.
“It was just a tight game,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters post-game. “We didn’t get it [the win], but really we didn’t give up much after the opening 10 minutes.”
Winnipeg then capitalized on the power play as Mark Scheifele made it 2-0 in favor of the Jets at the midway point of the first period. Shortly after, Charlie McAvoy was able to score off of a beautiful set up from David Krejci for his sixth goal of the season.
In the second period, the team seemed much more solid, including a terrific showing from Tuukka Rask and his crossbar. The tying goal for the Bruins came from an unlikely source: Joakim Nordstrom. Nordstrom scored his first goal in 26 games to tie things up at 2-2 at the 10:00 mark of the second period for the Bruins, laying a solid foundation for a comeback.
That foundation was torn up in the third by the Jets as Jacob Trouba scored off the rush to give Winnipeg a 3-2 lead 7:38 into the third as things got chaotic in front of Rask, and Nikolaj Ehlers pushed the lead to 4-2 at 13:02 after Bruins forward Danton Heinen lost the puck in the slot.
Coyle cut the lead to 4-3, scoring on a redirection 17:04 into the third for his first goal with the Bruins, but the B’s were unable to score to tie the game and at least escape this three-game road trip with a point.
When asked about the cause of the Bruins losing streak, star forward Patrice Bergeron said “Poor starts, first and foremost… We shot ourselves in the foot at the start of every game [during this losing streak] and it’s so tough to get back in this league. Tough to do that every night. And we’ve done it on the tail end of our [19-game] point streak.”
The Bruins host the Columbus Blue Jackets at the TD Garden on Saturday with hopes of snapping their losing streak.
