BSJ Game Report: Lightning 7, Bruins 1 - Bruins embarrassed as Bolts take 2-1 series edge

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 7-1 loss to the Lightning in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

HEADLINES

A frustrating start ...

The Bruins didn’t do themselves many favors in the opening 20 minutes of Game 3 against Tampa Bay. But man, they didn’t get much of a break from the refs either. A Tampa power play that opened this postseason with an 0-for-16 slump was given a gift of a weak penalty call against Nick Ritchie. Less than 30 seconds later, Tampa opened the scoring — with Ondrej Palat knocking home his second goal in less than 24 hours. 

Just 15 seconds later, Yanni Gourde made it a 2-0 game, with the Tampa forward given a clear lane to Jaroslav Halak after linesman Devin Berg set a brutal pick against Jeremy Lauzon after Gourde entered Boston’s zone. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1298781723946348544

Just some brutal breaks here for Boston. 

… turns into an absolute trainwreck 

Boston might not have had luck on its side in that opening 20 minutes, but there’s absolutely no excuse for what transpired in the following period — as Bruce Cassidy’s club put together one of the more pathetic showings you’ve seen from this group in quite some time. 

While Brad Marchand managed to counter Mikhail Sergachev’s power-play tally in the second with a special-teams strike of his own at 4:56, a careless roughing penalty from Charlie McAvoy once again put Boston in a hole, with a suddenly revitalized Bolts power play cashing in on its third goal in as many bids to give the Lightning a 4-1 lead. 

With Boston on the ropes, Cassidy opted to take Halak (12 saves on 16 shots) out of the contest, with rookie Dan Vladar making his NHL debut just past the midway point in the period.

But even with a rookie goalie in net, a sleepwalking Bruins team didn’t tighten up defensively — rather, they let the kid get absolutely embarrassed, with Brayden Point and Alex Killorn burying goals on a breakaway and off another Boston defensive breakdown in the second period. 

That’s simply unacceptable, especially in a playoff bout. And to make matters worse, Boston only managed to land love taps against Tampa Bay down the other end of the ice, landing just eight shots on goal against Andrei Vasilevskiy in that pivotal period. 

Nikita Kucherov (one goal, three assists in the win) put the final nail in the coffin — burying Tampa's seventh goal of the evening at 3:58 in the third period.

This series may not be over yet, but good god — this was ugly. Normally, I’d say burn the game film, but Bruins need to let this one soak in. Just a complete no-show against your top competitor on this “revenge tour.” 

ONE UP

Brad Marchand: As has been the case for most of this series, Marchand led the way for Boston on offense, with the B’s new netfront option deflecting a nice feed from Torey Krug at 4:56 in the second. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1298791596620763136

THREE DOWN:

Let's be real — this should be 20 Down, based on the way this one went. But we'll compress this one a bit. 

Penalty kill: The overall lack of effort and defensive structure is going to leave a sour taste in the mouths of many following this loss, but the most concerning development from an X's and O's perspective in this one was Tampa Bay's power play coming to life. Give credit to the Bolts, who seem to have found new life during 5v4 play after Kucherov switched over to his strong side on the PP1 group, but Boston's PK unit didn't do itself any favors in this one – with the Bolts consistently generating sustained O-zone pressure and rebounds down low against Boston. If Tampa manages to tilt special-teams play back to even, or potentially in their favor, this series is over.

Bruce Cassidy: Yes, the Bruins' players failed to show up on Wednesday night, but you can't ignore some of the lineup decisions that Boston's bench boss made in this one. Boston was dealt a tough blow after Sean Kuraly was ruled as "unfit to participate," but Cassidy's decision to go with seven defensemen — inserting both Jeremy Lauzon and John Moore into the lineup — proved to be a disaster. Lauzon seems to have lost his mojo up in the bubble, as the young defenseman was frequently caught out of position — including this brutal move leading to Killorn's goal against Vladar in the second.

https://twitter.com/emarinofsky/status/1298799189061763072

Add in a rough showing from John Moore in his first playoff outing since Game 7 against St. Louis, and this Bruins' lineup just didn't have it all game. Expect even more changes come Friday night.

Charlie McAvoy: Again, just about every Bruins skater should be included on this list (Brandon Carlo has had a ROUGH time up in the bubble, while the middle-six forwards have not showed up yet in this series), but McAvoy earns a spot here for negating any semblance of momentum that Boston was able to gain after Marchand's power-play tally in the second period. Yes, Boston was still trailing, 3-1, against a very good Tampa team, but McAvoy's needless roughing penalty against Kucherov gave Tampa's man-advantage another shot to do damage — which they carried out just 17 seconds later off of a Killorn goal. Any chance that Boston had of sparking a comeback went to the wayside after that.

PLAY OF THE GAME

https://twitter.com/TheReplayGuy/status/1298796840637390849

PARTING THOUGHTS

Anthony Cirelli, man. Wooof. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1298780024468799488

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

"They were better than us in every facet of the game." - Bruce Cassidy

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins and Lightning will meet again on Friday night for Game 4 of the best-of-seven series. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.