The Bruins failed to register even one shot on net in the second and only 4 SOG total in 40 minutes.
The Boston Bruins failed to put up a concerted effort as the team’s struggles piled up in the second period leading to a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the TD Garden on Saturday night.
They are now on a two-game losing streak in their second poor showing since the trade deadline. Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves in the loss.
The Bruins escaped the first period tied after falling behind early off a Victor Hedman rebound. They recovered in the final five minutes of the period to tie the game with a tally from Elias Lindholm.
But a nightmarish second period ultimately cost the Bruins who didn’t get a shot on net in the middle frame while the Lightning pushed and scored three times on 21 shots.
“Not even having a shot on goal the whole period, you can’t play like that,” Pavel Zacha said. “It’s embarrassing.”
“They (Tampa Bay) came out pretty determined in that second period and we weren’t able to execute under pressure that period,” Interim head coach Joe Sacco said postgame.
Early-period goals hindered the Bruins ability to get anything going in the first, Then, another early-period goal, this time in the second, allowed the Lightning to flip its offensive switch led by Nick Paul’s goal just over two minutes into the second period.
Tallies from Anthony Cirelli and Darren Raddysh followed, making the score 4-1 heading into the third period.
“Coming out of defensive zone coverage, we turned the puck over too much,” Sacco said. “We didn’t have proper support for each other.”
“They were all over us and we didn’t have any room,” Lindholm said about the Lightning’s offense. “We looked very slow out there.”
Marat Khusnutdinov cut into the Bruins’ deficit 23 seconds into the final frame, but that would be the extent of the team’s offense. The Bruins closed out the third period with only four shots on net.
Two empty-net goals cushioned the Lightning’s lead before the final buzzer sounded.
Here are the game’s highlights:
First period:
Victor Hedman found the rebound from Darren Raddysh’s shot from the point as the loose puck came out to him low by the right-wing circle to beat Jeremy Swayman blocker side at 2:22 of the first period. 1-0 Lightning.
After cutting in the offensive zone to the right side, Andrew Peeke found Elias Lindholm in slot for a one-timer past Andrei Vasilevskiy’s blocker at 15:58 of the first period. 1-1 tie game.
Second period:
Nick Paul picked up Emil Lilleberg’s rebound for the go-ahead with a wrist shot past Swayman’s stick at 2:130 of the second period. 2-1 Lightning. Another early-period goal given by the Bruins.
Anthony Cirelli tipped in Ryan McDonagh’s shot from the blue line past Swayman at 7:22 of the second period. 3-1 Lightning.
With traffic out front, Swayman didn’t even see Raddysh’s long shot from the blue line at 17:08 of the second period. 4-1 Lightning.
Third period:
Marat Khusnutdinov threw a wrist shot on net from the blue line which trickled low past Vasilevskiy, off the post and into the net 23 seconds into the third period. 4-2 game.
Brandon Hagel scored the Lightning’s first empty-net goal at 16:31 of the third period. 5-2 Lightning.
Cirelli added another empty-netter for his second goal of the night at 19:15 of the third period. Final score: 6-2 Lightning.
Game notes
- The word “embarrassing” echoed throughout the Bruins locker room postgame. Lindholm, Zacha and Andrew Peeke all were frustrated with what had transpired and how the second period went down.
- Lindholm said he felt the team started pushing back in the last few minutes of the first period and “not really sure what happened” in the second, saying the effort level was unacceptable and one of the worst this year. “It’s embarrassing,” Lindholm said. “The compete level was no where to be found. It was overall unacceptable and it’s frustrating, for sure.”
- Lindholm added over the last two games, the Bruins haven’t won as many 50/50 pucks and aren’t hunting for the puck with the energy they did in the first two games after the trade deadline. “We’ve got to figure this out,” he said.
- Zacha said tonight’s start was the exact opposite from when they played Ottawa. He thought his team played good in the first, but then the breakdowns began to unravel things in the second. “You can’t play only one good period a game to win,” Zacha said.
- Defensive breakdowns and the Bruins just getting stuck in their zone in the second period was the writing on the wall in this game. Sacco said the guys couldn’t get out of their zone clean and the long change from the bench in the second didn’t help them with the pressure sustained from the Lightning.
- The Bruins didn’t have any shots on net during the second period. In the third, they only registered four shots on net. Overall, four SOG in 40 minutes.
- “It wasn’t a good game for us,” Sacco said. “Monday is an opportunity for us to be better.”
- The Bruins will face the Buffalo Sabres on Monday at 7 p.m. at the TD Garden.