BSJ Game Report: Maple Leafs 3, Bruins 2 (OT) - Last-minute letdown

TORONTO — Everything you need to know from the Bruins' overtime loss to the Maple Leafs Friday night at Air Canada Centre. 

HEADLINES

Blown opportunity: The Bruins were one minute away from a victory, but the Maple Leafs pulled goalie Frederik Andersen for the extra attacker when Toronto's James Van Riemsdyk scored the game-timing goal at the 19:00 of the third period to force overtime. Patrick Marleau provided the winner at 1:07 of OT. It's the nature of the 3-on-3 that odd-man rushes will occur frequently and that's what happened to the Bruins. David Pastrnak had an opportunity in the offensive zone but he lost the puck and tripped, allowing the Maple Leafs to create a 3-on-2 in transition. Pastrnak was gassed and couldn't backcheck in time to pick up his man and it resulted in a goal.

"You hope he makes a play and gets it to the net, or protects it," said Bruce Cassidy. "In 3-on-3 you've got to value the puck. It happened quick and I'm not sure he expected to be in that position and all of a sudden it's there and it didn't work out for us. They made a play coming the other way and that is the nature of 3-on-3. We'll trade chances and we had our right before that."

It shouldn't have reached OT. Even though the Maple Leafs had the extra attacker, the Bruins had the line of Tim Schaller, Riley Nash and Noel Acciari on the ice. It's a solid trio that is sound defensively and has the ability to clear the puck.

"Three guys that we trust to get the job done, but we didn't get it out," Cassidy said. "We were soft on it. I can't sugarcoat it. That's what happened. If you have to ice it, that's fine; we're not against that in those situations. It's not our first choice, obviously, but we didn't get it out and they kept it in and made a play. Once you get that many guys around the net, you start to get fatigued and they get one more than us."

Solid as a rock: It's somewhat amazing that Anton Khudobin does not have a regulation loss in his six games this season. After Friday's overtime loss, he's 3-0-2 five starts. He finished with 30 saves, more than a few of them were timely. He had no chance on either the game-tying or game-winning goals.

"Another strong game," Cassidy said. "Listen, the guy's been really good for us. He seems like he's tightening up his game as he's gone along too. There were some rebound issues early and he seems to have those under better control, so give him credit against a good offensive team. We played fairly well in front of him but he was solid."

Entering the season, the backup position was a major question for the Bruins. Khudobin did not start well last season but was able to finish strong, winning his last six starts. It was the confidence boost he needed and it's carried over into this season. His ability to earn points is another reason why Cassidy is comfortable going with Khudobin, especially when there's a back-to-back situation like this weekend.

"At least we got the point," Khudobin said. "It's a tough loss. Overall, we played pretty well. We did a lot of good things. Maybe we didn't score enough. Maybe I didn't save enough -- I don't know. Overall, we played pretty well. We just didn't get the right result."

He wasn't panicking like he sometimes has a tendency to do and the one time in the third period when he did get caught out of position, he recovered and made two huge saves.

"Overall in this game, I felt really good," he said. "After not playing for 10 days, I was ready and felt well."

A good start — finally: The biggest issue for the Bruins of late, especially on the road, was their inability to start strong. Boston was always playing from behind, but it finally put together a solid opening period. The game was scoreless after the first 20 minutes, but Patrice Bergeron gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 15:38 of the second period. Unfortunately, that effort went for naught in the loss.

"(Toronto) played really well," admitted Khudobin. "We knew that's a really high, skilled defensive team and they scored some pretty cool goals. There's always something we can fix and there's always something you can prove in this game, in this league, so we still need to work moving forward."

Boston was able to limit the odd-man rushes and its structure was solid. At times, the Bruins weren't hard enough on pucks and clears and it came back to haunt them.

"It's winning hockey and you've got to play winning hockey in that crucial last minute," Cassidy said. "We didn't win as a result, so it's a lesson learned."

ONE UP

Ever since he was recalled from the P-Bruins, Jordan Szwarz has done his job. He needs to play a simple game, not make any mistakes, get the puck deep and go get it. Oh, and not get scored on. He's done all those things. His relentless work in front of the net was a direct result of Pastrnak's power-play goal. Szwarz was digging away in a scramble when the puck found its way onto Pastrnak's stick.

"He does a good job," Cassidy said. "He's a bit like an Acciari-type of guy that goes out there and puts his hardhat on and works, plays in straight lines and he was good in the middle of the ice for us. He's done what we've asked, so we insert him on the power play late to give us a little more grease (in front). We were having trouble getting pucks back and that one worked out and good for him. He's scored in the American Hockey League, so we know he has the ability to make some plays. That doesn't always translate into what we want in the NHL. We want a good two-way player, but given the opportunity and those guys have taken advantage of it and good for him."

In five games since his recall, Szwarz had three assists and is a plus-2.

ONE DOWN

Brandon Carlo had a tough night. He was called for two penalties, turned the puck over several times and was on the ice for the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation. Since Cassidy decided to move Carlo to the second defensive pair with Torey Krug, Carlo has been given more responsibility. Not playing with Zdeno Chara, Carlo will make mistakes. He's a solid defenseman and has a lot of upside, which he proved last season. It's this type of game he'll need to learn from and he has the hockey IQ to do so. It was just a tough outing for him against the highly offensive Maple Leafs team.

CHIRPIN’ POINT

Talking with Hall of Famer Mark Recchi prior to the game, he was asked about why more than 90 percent of his career goals were scored from right in front of the net, or the so-called dirty areas of the ice. It's simple: He was willing to go there and take a beating for the purpose of scoring and it worked for his entire career and that's why he finished his 22 seasons with 577 goals. Bruins rookie Jake DeBrusk has a similar mindset and understands he needs to go to those areas in order to produce. He has three goals in 15 games and he's learning how difficult it is to have success in front of the net while battling for the puck. He did a serviceable job against the Maple Leafs, but there needs to be more of it. Once he gets stronger and acclimated to the NHL, he should have better success in that category. It's a work in progress.

UP NEXT

After a 0-1-1 road trip, the Bruins return home to conclude a home-and-home series with the Maple Leafs tonight at 7 p.m. Tuukka Rask will start for Boston.