With 3rd-straight loss, gap continues to grow between Bruins and top Atlantic contenders

A quick glance of the final box score was telling.

Sure, Tampa Bay’s 3-2 victory over the Bruins, Boston’s third-straight loss in regulation, featured Brayden Point’s 21st goal of the season — generated off a slick no-look pass from another big gun up front in Nikita Kucherov.

But the Lightning’s two tallies to ice the contest in the final stanza came off a shorthanded goal from Tampa’s third-line center in Anthony Cirelli, along with fourth-line rookie Mathieu Joseph’s ninth goal of the season.

Tampa’s scoring output stood in stark contrast to a B’s club still desperate for secondary scoring — with Boston averaging just 1.6 goals per game during its recent 1-4-0 skid.

Boston’s top-six corps finished with both of the B’s tallies. David Pastrnak fired home his 20th goal of the season in the first period — with the winger accounting for 27.7 percent of all of Boston’s goals on the year. Meanwhile, David Krejci’s blast with Tuukka Rask pulled accounted for the veteran center’s first goal since Oct 23.

On a night in which Boston was edged, 9-4, in high-danger scoring chances during five-on-five play, all four quality bids came from only two players — Pastrnak (three) and Brad Marchand (one).

Tampa’s nine high-danger chances? Generated by six players, a telling sign for a 22-7-1 club that seems leagues ahead of the Bruins, even with Boston’s string of injuries.



“I think it's terrific,” Bruce Cassidy said of Tampa Bay’s depth. “They've got a nice team. I think everyone knew that going into the year. They added the kid Joseph, what's he got, eight, nine goals? We could have used one of those tonight. I'd rather focus on us. I know Tampa is a good team."

Even with the return of Charlie McAvoy following a 20-game absence, Boston’s offense still struggled to generate quality looks against Louis Domingue — Tampa’s backup netminder who has still managed to go 4-0-0 as of late while top goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy remains on the mend with a foot fracture.

"We usually try to accent the positives most times," Cassidy said. "Obviously there's games like the Florida game where you have to look at where you haven't been good, then focus on that. ... I think we just beat ourselves, to be honest with you. We had good possession of the puck, we're coming up ice. That was a bit of issue tonight, so we've got to clean that up."

For the fourth time in their last five games, Boston managed to outshoot the opposition (35-30 vs. Tampa Bay), but the B’s only have one win to show for their efforts — a sign of the club taking low-danger shots, as evidenced by the heat map following Thursday’s loss.



There were a few silver linings to take away from Thursday’s loss. You can point to a stout second period in which Tampa was held to three scoring chances at 5v5 play. Or an encouraging showing from a third line featuring two rookies in Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson and Ryan Donato (75.00 Corsi For Percentage during 10:46 TOI together).

But given the end result, Cassidy doesn’t have much time to dwell on the few positives.

"Tonight is a little more disappointing, to be honest with you,” Cassidy said of comparing Thursday’s loss with Tuesday’s 5-0 blowout against the Panthers. “We were right there. Guys that have been in the league just mishandled pucks and then all of the sudden we have opportunities maybe to get plays to the net, shots get blocked. Listen, we had a few passengers and we can't afford that against a No. 1 team like Tampa.”

Boston has been dealt a tough hand with key cogs in Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara on the mend, but the gap is quickly widening in what has been a cutthroat Atlantic Division.

Following Thursday’s slate of games, Boston (32 points)  sits in the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, just two points ahead of the rebuilding Red Wings. There’s still over 50 games left on the docket, but teams like Tampa (45 points), Toronto (41 points) and Buffalo (38 points) are already distancing themselves from Boston.

Accruing points is a labor in the NHL, but Boston’s sluggish offense has often labored against top competition, with the B’s only lighting the lamp 25 times in 13 games against clubs currently in the NHL playoff picture.

Given Boston’s struggles at 5v5 (just two goals in its last 263:06 of TOI) and a slumping power play that has only tallied one goal in its last 12 attempts — the shorthanded B’s have resorted to gutting out 2-1 wins, a tall task when going up against opponents like Tampa and Toronto, both teams with aspirations of deep postseason runs.

Boston has its own limited contending window with players like Bergeron in the later stages of their prime, but Thursday’s loss was a sobering sign of the current disparity between the B’s and clubs with much more tangible chances of hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup come June.