BSJ Game Report: Senators 5, Bruins 2 - Mental mistakes plague B’s in 3rd straight loss

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 5-2 loss to the Senators in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

TWO THINGS TO KNOW

Mental mistakes, lack of urgency continue to plague Bruins: If there was an opponent that Boston would want to face after suffering its first regulation loss in close to a month, it’d have to be the Senators, right? 

Just 1-6-0 in their past seven games, the Senators were primed to be Boston’s punching bag at the start of a daunting road trip for the B's that includes matchups against the Capitals, Lightning, and Panthers.

But as has been the case for most of this recent skid, any expectations of a complete, 60-minute effort were dashed shortly after the puck was dropped on Monday night



as a poor line change led to a breakaway tally from Artem Anisimov just 1:35 into regulation. It was a sign of things to come for the Bruins, who ultimately fell to Ottawa, 5-2, in what stood as the club’s third consecutive loss, and second straight in regulation.

Anisimov’s tally was far from Boston’s only costly miscue in a largely miserable matchup up at the Canadian Tire Centre. A bad bounce on a failed breakout attempt from John Moore allowed Anthony Duclair to add to the Senators’ lead at 15:44 in the opening stanza, while a brutal mental lapse from Tuukka Rask proved to be the eventual game-winner for the Sens at 1:21 in the second. With Rask slow to get back to his spot in the crease while recovering a puck behind his net, Chris Tierney was able to tally one of the easiest goals of his career, putting the game out of reach in short order. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1204213826398408706

Even with Patrice Bergeron back in the lineup, Boston still found itself falling into the same brutal patterns that have left this team rudderless for extended stretches over the last couple of weeks. The difference as of late? Boston hasn’t been able to escape unscathed from these sequences of poor play. 

Power play fizzles out again: With Bergeron back in his regular spot at the bumper, one would think that Boston’s power play was poised to break out of its recent 0-for-10 skid. Even though Jake DeBrusk eventually broke Boston’s 0-for-14 stretch during garbage time in the third period, Boston’s power play still failed to land a punch against Anders Nilsson when the game was still within reach, finishing the night with a 1-for-5 showing. 

It wasn’t for a lack of effort on Boston’s part, with the Bruins landing 10 shots on goal against Nilsson over 7:06 of 5v4 TOI, but it’s starting to become evident that the Bruins might have to start making some tweaks to that PP1 unit going forward. Bruce Cassidy might have already started that — considering that DeBrusk replaced Danton Heinen as the netfront option on that top unit midway through the game. 

TWO UP 

Patrice Bergeron: Bergeron did his part in his return to the lineup, tallying his ninth goal of the season to cap off a great rush from Boston’s top line in the closing minutes of the first period. It was largely a return to form for that forward trio, with Boston holding a 16-8 edge in shot attempts in the 10:37 of 5v5 TOI in which that line was deployed. 

Jake DeBrusk: His power-play tally was in garbage time, but DeBrusk had a pretty steady night in the O-zone, nearly setting up Heinen for a tally off of a sweet wraparound feed earlier in the contest. 

TWO DOWN

Tuukka Rask: Rask will want that Anisimov goal back in the opening minutes of the first, but it wasn’t even the worst tally that the netminder surrendered on the night, as that goal from Tierney was a complete gift. Rask finished with 23 saves on 26 Ottawa shots.

Torey Krug: While DeBrusk’s goal in the closing minutes of the third period didn’t mean all that much, it could have given Boston quite the spark, had Jean-Gabriel Pageau not tallied an empty-net goal just 43 seconds earlier. With Rask pulled and Boston on the power play, Krug was unable to stay in front of Pageau during the 6v4 sequence, allowing the forward to put a dagger in the B’s and end any chance of a last-minute comeback. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1204207440218279941

PARTING THOUGHT

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1204232798325891072

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will continue this four-game road trip on Wednesday, with the B’s set for an anticipated rematch with the Washington Capitals. The Caps, who beat the Bruins in a shootout at TD Garden back on Nov. 16, currently lead all NHL clubs with 49 points on the year.