Ryan: A humbling reality check courtesy of Colorado shows Bruins the gap between hockey’s true elite

For most teams, exiting Ball Arena with at least one point secured in the standings would likely be labeled as a resounding victory.

Granted, the Colorado Avalanche — hockey’s closest incarnation of the Harlem Globetrotters in terms of their ability to enthrall audiences and embarrass opposing defenses with their game-breaking skill — can dissect even the stoutest D corps on any clean sheet of ice available to them.

But in their own barn in Denver, the Avs have made Ball Arena a house of horrors for their competition — boasting a 16-game home win streak entering Wednesday’s showdown with the Bruins. 

So, all things considered, the Bruins pushing one of the NHL’s elite teams to overtime and at least exiting that eventual 4-3 loss with the loser’s point sure seems like a merited silver lining, right?

Not for this Bruins team — a group that, intrinsically, also considers themselves as operating on that same tier of premier Cup contenders.

And not when you factor in just how Boston let two points — and arguably its most impressive win of the 2021-22 campaign — slip through its grasp.

It was far from a surprise that a Colorado roster with that much offensive firepower was going to make a push in the final period of regulation — especially after Boston buried three straight goals in a lopsided middle frame.

What was a surprise — or perhaps disheartening is the apt term — is that the Bruins were fully cognizant of the brewing blitzkrieg that awaited them over the last 20 minutes of play. And then promptly got run out of the gym, anyway.

"They're a good team for a reason,” Charlie Coyle said of the Avalanche. “They're not just gonna sit back and let us have that in the third. And I think we expected a push, we wanted to keep playing the same way. And they came out hard and that's unfortunate. I mean, Linus (Ullmark) played such a great game and he deserved better from us in that third."

Had it not been for the play of Ullmark, the Bruins likely wouldn’t have even had that one measly point to fall back on — as the veteran netminder turned aside multiple salvos over a third period that saw Colorado outshoot Boston by an 18-7 margin. 

But even a dialed-in Ullmark, who bailed out Brandon Carlo just moments prior following an ugly D-zone giveaway, could not stem the tide on his own. Be it a stationary D corps unable to push the puck out of danger or a lack of urgency across the depth chart, the Bruins were flirting with disaster as the minutes continued to tick off the clock. 

"I think the biggest thing for me is watching us play the whole period in our own end because we couldn't execute a breakout pass,” Bruce Cassidy said postgame. “Continually iced it off the glass and out. You got to keep playing hockey — they're too good, you're gonna get fatigued. 

"Sure enough, they start winning some faceoffs and we're pulling it out of our net. So execute. You got to keep playing. I mean, we're usually pretty good at that. And then when you don't, you got to play winning hockey, protect the middle of the ice.”

By the time the Avs finally had a bounce (or two) go their way on Samuel Girard’s goal at 11:46 in the third, the dam finally burst.

Over the final 12:04 of play — stretched between the closing minutes of the third period and overtime — the Avs shifted into another gear, outshooting Boston by an 11-2 margin.

Even without their key cog in the middle in Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado once again turned the Ball Arena ice into a track meet, gliding through the neutral zone and extending fruitful O-zone possessions by way of an active and engaged D corps.  

Meanwhile, the Bruins were left sucking wind — and it had little to do with the thin air up in Denver. 

“It becomes fatigue after a while because if you do execute — you go play in their end a little bit and put some stress on them," Cassidy said. "You're not expending energy. So if you're constantly defending against big forwards, they have a big group, you're going to get tired. So some of it was on us early and we got away with it. But you got to be able to make some plays sometimes when they're there.”

Of course, even when the Bruins haven’t executed at their usual level, usually those deficiencies have been masked by the continued excellence of players like Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand — who have routinely bailed Boston out of many one-goal nailbiters and empty-net situations.

But against a team like the Avs, even the slightest miscue can devolve into a back-breaker. Marchand witnessed that firsthand when his attempted clear sailed into the slot instead of over the blue line. Seconds later, the puck was one-timed into twine for the equalizer.

*crack*

"It's unfortunate that we didn't battle that puck out or wasn't able for it to bounce our way," Cassidy said. "I think it hit their guy's shin pads or whatever — I can't remember. But (the puck) ricocheted into the middle where we did have some bodies, but they outnumbered us there. So that's what happened. They made a play when they had to.”

Even before Cale Makar’s shot on the power play — another byproduct of a careless miscue by Boston (this one a tripping call against Mike Reilly) — beat Ullmark in overtime, such a result seemed inevitable.

“Good teams are gonna have those pushes,” Coyle lamented. “I know we're a good team.  It's up to us to push back and have that next shift, whoever's up next and kind of sway it in our favor.”

Indeed, the Bruins are a good team. A very good team.

At the risk of getting ahead of myself — they even have the makings of a great team.

The Bruins likely concur with such sentiment. But it’s one thing to harbor such belief, and it’s another to prove it on the ice.

And when it comes to gauging the true mettle of hockey’s elite — leaving the rink with one point just isn’t going to cut it. 

“At the end of the day, we didn't get done,” Cassidy said. “We didn't get it done. We typically do in those situations and we paid the price."