BSJ Game Report: Canucks 8, Bruins 5 - Goaltending falters in frustrating loss to Vancouver taken at TD Garden (Bruins)

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Bruins

BSJ Game Report: Canucks 8, Bruins 5 - Goaltending falters in frustrating loss to Vancouver

By Conor Ryan

Nov 8, 2018 • 10:45 pm

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Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 8-5 loss to the Canucks  in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Jaroslav Halak pulled, Rask doesn’t fare much better: On a night in which the B’s secondary scoring finally broke through, it was a cruel twist of fate for Jaroslav Halak to finally appear mortal between the pipes for the Black and Gold. Entering Thursday’s contest with the top save percentage among all starting goalies, Halak simply didn’t have it tonight — surrendering the first goal just 2:46 into the game before getting the hook after four Canucks tallies in the middle stanza.

Granted, two of the four goals scored against Halak in the second were on the power play, but Halak let the game get away in short order — with Vancouver notching consecutive goals against Halak in under two minutes on two separate occasions. Tuukka Rask entered in relief and didn’t offer much of it — surrendering a point shot from Erik Gudbranson just 2:08 after Jake DeBrusk made it a one-goal game in the closing minutes of the second.

It went from bad to worse midway through the third, as a poor clearing attempt from Rask on the power play led to an easy goal from Bo Horvat, who knocked down the puck and fired it into an empty net to make it a 7-4 game. Jake Virtanen scored less than two minutes later to add to the onslaught. With the B’s top six finally starting to click, all Boston needed tonight was a steady effort in net from Halak and Rask. That obviously wasn’t the case.

Secondary scoring arrives: While the B’s goaltending and defense left a lot to be desired on Thursday, Boston’s dormant offense finally started to wake up — with skaters not named Bergeron, Pastrnak and Marchand finally finding the back of the net. Sure, Boston’s top line still finished with a goal and two points against the Canucks, but Jake DeBrusk scored twice, Matt Grzelcyk tallied his first of the season off a rush generated by a great sequence from DeBrusk and David Krejci; while Danton Heinen had his first goal of the season at 13:38 in the third.

Tonight marked the first five-on-five goal by a Bruins skater (not counting the Bergeron line) since Oct. 25 — a stretch of five games. Goaltending and some sloppy play marred Thursday's matchup, but at least Bruce Cassidy and Co. are starting to see some more production from players that they’re going to have to rely on heavily as the year rolls along. The trick now? Getting good goaltending and secondary scoring to click at the same time.

THREE UP

Jake DeBrusk: It’s been a frustrating season for DeBrusk, who only scored three goals over 14 games despite posting some favorable possession statistics (55.56 Corsi For Percentage) entering Thursday’s tilt. After failing to get rewarded numerous times this season, the winger finally cashed in twice against the Canucks, becoming the first Bruins forward (not on the Bergeron line) to score at five-on-five since Joakim Nordstrom found the back of the net back on Oct. 20.




Both of his goals featured DeBrusk tipping and knocking home pucks at the crease — with his second score coming as the net-front guy on the B’s top power-play unit. Look for him to keep getting reps there. 
Hat tip to DeBrusk for also jumpstarting Grzelcyk’s goal in the first period, taking the puck out of the D zone, finding open ice at the neutral zone and opening up space for Krejci to find the trailer skating in from the left circle off the rush. Great stuff.


David Krejci:
Along with notching three assists on the best line out on the ice for the Bruins Thursday night, Krejci also saw most of the matchups against Canucks rookie phenom
Elias Pettersson.
While a number of Vancouver skaters found the back of the net, Pettersson was largely kept in check, limited to just one helper in the third period. 




Loui Eriksson:
The former Bruin had his revenge against the Black and Gold on Thursday, lighting the lamp twice in the second period to chase Halak from the game. In eight career games against the Black and Gold, Eriksson now has five goals and seven points.
He certainly isn’t worth the six-year, $36-million contract he signed with the Canucks back in 2016, but the B’s could use a top-six winger like Eriksson right about now.


THREE DOWN


David Backes:
While Thursday was a breakout game by the Krejci line, the same can’t be said for the Heinen-Backes-Bjork trio — with a rough play by two of the skaters leading to the Canucks’ first goal of the night just 2:46 into regulation.
While skating out of the D zone, Backes failed to corral a backhand feed from Heinen along the boards, with
Bo Horvat
picking off the pass in the high slot and beating Halak clean to make it a 1-0 game.
Not a great start from a line still looking to gel together, even if Heinen tallied his first of the season on the power play in the final minutes of the third. 


Goaltending:
After stopping 107 of the 110 shots that came his way over his last three outings, Halak relinquished five of the 19 shots he saw on Thursday against Canucks. With a major matchup against Toronto slated for Saturday night,
Bruce Cassidy
has a tough decision to make about who gets the nod in net. Rask certainly wasn’t stellar either, giving up three goals on 14 shots. 




Sluggish defensive effort:
Boston’s goaltending was less than stellar, but the B’s were careless on numerous occasions in their own end, with turnovers and sluggish clear attempts leading to Grade-A looks for the Canucks. Torey Krug was out for three goals against — while the Canucks held a 20-6 edge in attempts over the 14:48 of 5v5 TOI for Brandon Carlo. 


LOOKING AHEAD


The Black and Gold will continue their four-game homestand with a crucial matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. Even without
Auston Matthews
,
John Tavares
and Co. have been plenty good up north, with the Leafs currently ahead of the B’s in the Atlantic Division by two points.

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