BSJ Game Report: Red Wings 5, Bruins 3 - Bruins run out of gas in Detroit; Lindholm injured

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 5-3 loss to the Red Wings, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Tired, banged-up B’s let two points slip away: After escaping Columbus with an overtime win just the night before, the Bruins on Tuesday looked like a club that, well… just played the night before.

Add in the fact Boston’s depth chart was sapped of its top sniper in David Pastrnak and Trent Fredericb (a dependable third-line stalwart in his own right), and a letdown is always in play when it comes to these grueling back-to-back slates …. 

… That being said ... those circumstances still shouldn’t absolve a lackluster 5-3 loss for the Bruins against a Red Wings club that had gone winless in its previous six games. 

Be it defensive breakdowns, shaky netminding from Jeremy Swayman once again (four goals allowed on 28 shots) or a thin depth chart running on fumes, the Bruins left a lot to be desired in this one — relinquishing four straight goals to a cellar-dwelling opponent and letting a 2-0 lead slip away in the second. 

Now, after letting a few points slip through their grasp (especially on a night in which the Maple Leafs blew a 5-1 lead), the road is going to get much tougher for Boston during this sprint to the finish line of the regular season — with a matchup against the Lightning next on the docket later this week. 

Third D pair struggles once again: When it comes to maximizing the potential of Boston’s six-man unit on defense, deploying a PK foot solider and stay-at-home blueliner in Derek Forbort and a puck-moving weapon in Mike Reilly makes plenty of sense from a personnel standpoint. 

But so far, that third-pairing configuration (with Reilly slotted in on the right side) has left an awful lot to be desired. 

Whether it was the poor clearing efforts from Reilly that led to Michael Rasmussen’s second-period tally or the brutal angle Forbort took that let Jakub Vrana sail past him en route to a rush goal from Filip Zadina — it’s clear that Bruce Cassidy still has a lot of tinkering to do with this D corps. 

Lindholm exits with lower-body injury: To make matters worse for the B’s when it comes to their blue line, they lost their top-pairing presence on the left side in Hampus Lindholm — who did not return after two periods of play due to a lower-body injury. 

Postgame, Cassidy didn’t offer much in terms of Lindholm’s status.

"I don’t know. It’s a lower-body (injury). He left the game, didn’t come back,” Cassidy said. “Usually, those things require, when you don’t come back, there’s probably going to be an X-Ray involved or an MRI. He seemed to be okay in there, so I don't think it's serious, but obviously when you don’t come back then you don’t know until you get better information.”

Much like Pastrnak and Frederic, it doesn’t seem like the Bruins have set any hard recovery timelines yet for Lindholm’s return. But even if the B’s manage to dodge a bullet and don’t lose any of these three for an extended stretch, it might be time to start giving these guys plenty of rest down the stretch anyway. 

TWO UP 

Haula Line: On a night in which a number of skaters didn’t have it, a reshuffled second line of Erik Haula, Taylor Hall and Tomas Nosek left their mark on the scoresheet — with Haula burying a crisp feed from Hall. Give plenty of credit to Nosek stepping in for Pastrnak as well, with the winger keeping it simple and driving to the net on this rush chance. 

Brandon Carlo: Boston’s D corps was either bullied or busied for most of the evening, but Carlo at least managed to make a positive impact on the second pair — firing home his second career shorthanded tally in the first period to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead at the time. With Lindholm banged up, Carlo finished with 22:40 of ice time in the loss. 

FOUR DOWN

Forbort-Reilly pair: In total, during 38 minutes of 5v5 ice time that the Forbort-Reilly pairing has logged together this season, the Bruins have been outscored, 5-0. They gotta sort this bottom pair out — and fast. 

Power play: Even though the optics weren’t nearly as bad as they were on Monday in Columbus, Boston’s power play still left a whole lot to be desired with another goose egg tonight. Boston had many chances to pull away in this game had its power play landed some punches against Alex Nedeljkovic. 

Jeremy Swayman: With a little less than four weeks to go until the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, is it time to start getting concerned about Swayman’s continued slide? In his last nine games, Swayman has posted a save percentage of .883. Need some saves there, especially that power-play strike from Vrana in the third period. 

Last-minute goal: Another game, another last-minute goal relinquished by the Bruins. Granted, Dylan Larkin’s shot that cut Boston’s lead in half in the final moments of the opening period was a snipe, but Boston needs to seriously tighten things up here. Per the NESN broadcast, Larkin’s tally marked the 23rd time this season that the B’s have coughed up a goal in the final minute of a period. Ooooof. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

LOOSE PUCKS

Not a lot to like from this postgame brawl - be it Jack Studnicka slamming the back of his head off the ice or Anton Blidh looking like he jammed his wrist/hurt his hand early in the scrum. That’s the last thing the Bruins need right now. 

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will continue their four-game road trip on Friday, with an anticipated matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.