Third-period letdowns becoming 'concerning' trend during final stretch for Bruins

David Backes had seen this scenario play out before earlier this season. If we want to be a bit more blunt, it was less than a week ago.

Just six days prior to Boston’s disheartening 6-3 loss at the hands of the Red Wings, the Bruins were dealt a hard-luck loss to the top-seeded Lightning on the road — a 5-4 result made all the more frustrating given the fact that the B’s held a two-goal cushion going into the final period of play.

The cellar-dwelling Red Wings are a far cry from the juggernaut that is Tampa Bay, but Detroit didn’t need the likes of Kucherov, Stamkos or Point to dismantle what was a porous defensive effort from the Bruins in the third stanza of Sunday’s matchup.

Once again, Boston entered the final frame with a lead — as a three-goal second both erased a sluggish start and put the B’s back on track toward their efforts of securing home ice in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Twenty minutes later, a Red Wings club with a minus-42 goal differential on the season had managed to find twine on just about every Grade-A chance relinquished by Boston, scoring four unanswered goals en route to Boston’s second straight loss to a team outside of the playoff picture.

Even though the Bruins have already secured a playoff berth, they haven’t done much to assuage any pre-postseason jitters felt by their fans and others. 

There are few positives to take away from a weekend of losses: Both Jaroslav Halak and Tuukka Rask stopped just 41 of the 49 shots that came their way. Marcus Johansson has still yet to gel with a forward trio with the playoffs right around the corner. And a defense that still sits third in the league in goals allowed per game (2.58) has now allowed 18 tallies in its last four games — with the six-spot delivered by Detroit coming on just the 12th night in which the Bruins have been able to roll out its six regular starters on the blue line.

And yet, for Backes, the most concerning trend during this late-season slump might be the club’s recent lack of execution during the final stretches of regulation.



“I think the concerning thing for me is going into third periods with leads,” Backes said postgame. “That was kind of our M.O. all year, you know, teams just got suffocated by us in the third periods and even in tie games or down by a goal, we always suffocated teams, made them anxious and then we’re able to find our equalizer or the go-ahead goal or give them nothing and be able to score our goal.

“I think we’ve gotten off that page a little bit. I don’t know if that’s complacency with being in the playoffs or in our spot, but I certainly believe that there’s momentum that’s carried into playoffs, and we’ve got three games, regardless of our opponent, to tune ourselves up so that we hit the ground running in the playoffs.”

Sitting third overall in the entire NHL with 103 points accrued through 79 games, the Bruins have managed to stay afloat during a grueling campaign by not letting up throughout the course of a contest — with the club posting a positive goal differential in both the first (plus-6), second (plus-22) and third periods (plus-10) of play.

And yet, among other true Stanley Cup contenders, the Bruins’ propensity to put games away in the third is lagging a bit. Among the 16 teams currently in the playoff picture, Boston ranks ninth overall with its plus-10 mark. The two teams in front of Boston, points-wise, in both the Lightning and Flames have plus-34 and plus-51 goal differentials during that same stanza.

Boston’s play as of late has certainly scuttled those third-period totals for Boston, with the Bruins now outscored by a 12-1 margin over its last five losses — all of which have come over the last three weeks of play.

“We don’t want to finish like this,” Halak said. “We want to finish strong and that wasn't our game. We all know that. We have to bring our A game next game and try to go game by game and go from there.”

Even with Boston's recent downturn, Bruce Cassidy isn’t ready to hit the panic button quite yet.

“I don't know where I'd put it at,” Cassidy said of the current level of concern with his team. “We had a good stretch of hockey last week, had a bad period in Tampa. We played 11 of 12 good periods on the road. Came home, played well. Didn't play well against Florida. Tonight, half of the game we played well. Certainly had our chances to win.

"In the third period, (Jimmy) Howard made all the point-blank saves on our chances and theirs went in. So analyze that however. Their goalie outplayed ours or their scorers outplayed ours. I think today, the first period I didn't like. But after that, we were ok. There were a couple of breakdowns, but you're going to have breakdowns."

For Cassidy, the priority over the final week of the regular season still revolves around making sure his regulars remain healthy, while carving out time to rest veterans like Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Zdeno Chara for the stretch run — an objective made all the more difficult to realize with Boston continuing to leave points on the board against lesser opponents.

With a veteran core anchoring the locker room, Cassidy doesn't expect such lax defensive structure and pedestrian response from his team once the postseason rolls in — especially during the final minutes of play. Still, some tangible results over these final three games will say a lot more than words ever will.

"I thought we were a little disrespectful in the first period, probably in the third against a team that can score and that’s playing well," Cassidy said. "They made us pay. Every good chance seems to go in the net, lately, so we’re going to have to correct some things."