BSJ Game Report: Blackhawks 6, Bruins 3 - Montgomery, Bergeron sound alarm after consecutive regulation losses

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 6-3 loss to the Blackhawks, with BSJ insight and analysis…

BOX SCORE 

HEADLINES

Bruins now officially in a little bit of a slump: It's hard to get too amped up about much when the Bruins are 50-11-5 on the season, but they gave up a third-period lead and were outscored 4-1 in the final frame by the lowly Blackhawks — who had to sub in their backup goaltender — to drop consecutive regulation games for the first time all season. The Bruins have now lost 3 of 4 and a pattern is developing that coach Jim Montgomery doesn't like and let everyone know.

“Frustration,” Montgomery told NESN after the game. “Mostly frustration. We’re not working as a team right now and it’s the first time all year I can say that.

“I don’t know. I just know the energy and emotion of our team right now is very very — at levels I haven’t seen all year.”

The Bruins were fighting it all game again. There was a general sloppiness and lack of detail in their game. When they weren't overpassing and passing up shots, they were turning the pucks over and missing checks. And for the first time all season, Linus Ullmark couldn't rescue them as he also gave up a few soft goals.

Patrice Bergeron wasn't thrilled after the game, either.

"We're disconnected," he told reporters. "We're not playing the right way. We're cheating and, you know I think this league is gonna humble you if you do that, so I think that's what we're getting right now. You know, I think for us, like we've done all year, we got to look at ourselves in the mirror, we know that it's not good enough and we need to go back to what was successful to us and what's been good to us all year. So, you know, a lot of things that we can learn from these games."

Bruins got help, too: Chicago starting goaltender Petr Mrazek looked sharp in the early going but had to depart shortly after taking a massive slapshot from Dimitri Orlov to the mask. The Bruins got a break when Alex Stalock took over and promptly gave up a goal that tied the game 1-1. The Bruins, who had a little bit of tough puck luck with Jake DeBrusk and Tyler Bertuzzi ringing the post (Bertuzzi's would have tied the game at 4 with 9 minutes left but it went crossbar, post and out), had plenty of breaks as two of their three goals went in off Chicago defenders.

Pastrnak doesn't get shot off on penalty shot: David Pastrnak had a chance to get the Bruins within a goal with about 90 seconds left after he was taken down from behind after a great seam pass from Pavel Zacha. But in what encapsulated Boston's night, Pastrnak saw the puck slide off his stick after faking Stalock out. Pastrnak again had problems with turnovers in this game, including one with Connor Clifton that led to Chicago's first goal.

"Well, I think it's the way that we're playing you know, I think we're, as I said, disconnected and I think we're making plays that puts our guys in a bad position that you know, we're cheating at times," Bergeron said. "We're turning pucks over when at lines you know, when guys need to change and they can't change and are on the ice for long periods of time. I think the onus becomes on us personally and individually, to be better and to be accountable for your teammates. So I think all things that that we know that we're aware of, but that sometimes you need a reality check and I think that's what we're getting right now."

ZERO UP

Thought about putting the Zacha-Krejci-Pastrnak line here because they were by far the best line for Boston, Zacha had big issues finishing other than his goal, Krejci looked old at times, and Pastrnak was really inconsistent. Plus, their line only produced six shots.

THREE DOWN

Derek Forbort-Connor Clifton: Holy hell were these guys bad. They were a minus-3 each! Clifton was all over the map as far as his coverage and his missed check led to the 5th goal. Forbort was deked out of his shorts and run around for an eventual game-winning goal by fourth-liner Boris Katchouk. Their pairing had 12 shots for, and 22 against.

Linus Ullmark: Nobody's perfect. He had a save percentage of 82% and his expected goals allowed was 3.32 in this game, but five got past him. The first one wasn't even a shot, it just slid in through his pads, and he allowed another on a sloppy rebound that led to a scrum in front. 

Greer-Nosek-Hathaway: The line played just 7:39 and only produced three shots for and six again. Even the Coyle line was 12-8. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

Clifton is going to want this one back, but just terrible team play.

LOOSE PUCKS

This about sums up the night.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins in Winnipeg on Thursday night to take on the Jets at 8 p.m.