Donnelly: 3 takeaways from the Bruins' preseason loss in Buffalo

The Bruins fell to the Sabres, 4-1, in Buffalo on Tuesday as the preseason rolls on. Oskar Steen scored late to prevent the shutout, putting home a rebound on Mason Lohrei's shot. Kyle Keyser saved 20 of 22 shots through 30:25 of action before Michael DiPietro stopped 11 of 12 in 26:00 of relief.

Again, the caveat to everything here is it's still early. But here are three takeaways that I may or may not regret later...

Mason Lohrei was good but still has work to do to crack the NHL out of camp

Lohrei lived up to his calling cards in his professional debut for the B's, eating heavy minutes, using his skating and long reach to his advantage in making plays both offensively and defensively.

"I thought he got better throughout the game, you know, each period he got better," Jim Montgomery told reporters. "I thought in the third period he was pretty dominant for us. You know, he's got the long-range and he's got the ability to make plays on both ends and we saw that."

The 22-year-old made a nice play at the offensive blue line, showing patience to wait for a shooting lane to open and getting his shot on goal before Steen crashed the net to put the rebound home and get Boston on the board.

Lohrei finished with an assist and two shots in 29:01 of ice time, far and away the most of any Boston skater (Ian Mitchell played 19:38). His 20:04 of 5v5 ice time was nearly four minutes clear of the next-highest, Brandon Carlo's 16:16. Perhaps most encouraging was that Lohrei did most of his work against some of the stiffest competition on the other, matching up most frequently with Tage Thompson (9:49), Zach Benson (9:10), Jeff Skinner (10:19), Rasmus Dahlin (8:43), Mattias Samuelsson (10:52) and Casey Mittelstadt (7:34), according to Natural Stat Trick. 

With Lohrei on at even strength, the Bruins had advantages in shots (13-10) and scoring chances (8-7) while dominating shot attempts (24-17) and high-danger chances (6-1). 

With all that said, I still think he could use some seasoning in the AHL. He's close, but I think some finer points need to be worked out, especially when it comes to his decisions, the pace at which he makes them – especially with the puck – as well as overall defensive details. Those are all things the Bruins and Adam McQuaid mentioned over the summer as well. 

He's got to become more acclimated to the system and especially the pro game, and he will. With the logjam at LD currently, there's absolutely no need to rush him.

Johnny Beecher with another solid 4C audition

I thought Beecher was good again as he vies to lock down a role on the fourth line out of camp. He finished with two blocked shots, won 50 percent of his faceoffs and drew two penalties. 

Playing 15:21, No. 19 also landed a shot on goal on two attempts and created two individual scoring chances, which were both high-danger, per Natural Stat Trick.

His speed helped set him apart in what was a sluggish night, overall, for the Bruins, and I think it's what has helped set him apart in the race for 4C so far. 

There was one such instance in the third period in which the full Beecher experience was on display. He was the first man in on the forecheck, engaged in a battle along the half wall and quickly disengaged when the puck worked behind the net. Quickly tracked down the defenseman from behind and bodied him off the puck, creating one of Boston's more sustained O-zone sequences of the entire night. He also surprised Devon Levi with a crafty one-handed shot attempt as he crashed a rebound in the slot in the first period.

His line with Trevor Kuntar and Jakub Lauko (what a pain-in-the-butt line that could be someday) had a 0.72 expected goals rate in 7:43 at 5v5, the most of any line for the B's. The trio had a 6-3 edge in scoring chances (3-2, high-danger), too. 

As a whole, Bruins left a lot to be desired compared to Sunday

Boston and Montgomery in particular have harped on pushing the pace and upping the physicality. That was on full display on Sunday, but it was pretty absent for stretches of what wound up being a sleepy Tuesday night at KeyBank Center.

Now it is worth noting that the Bruins traveled to Buffalo this afternoon before the game, which I'm sure played at least some of a factor (just as I believe it did for the Rangers flatlining on Sunday). Plus, Sunday's crowd at the Garden was juiced – packed and loud – compared to a half-empty arena on Tuesday. I can imagine it's easier to get up for a possible sellout in the preseason opener at home to make a name for yourself than it is on a chilly travel day in Buffalo. 

Nevertheless, between Montgomery's asks and some guys looking to make strong first impressions as they fight for spots, I would have expected a little more bite.

The Bruins were credited with just nine hits against the Sabres, and Steen and Jesper Boqvist – not exactly usual suspects in that department – accounted for two each.

Things were out of sync elsewhere, especially through the first 30 or 40 minutes of action, as Buffalo outshot the B's 20-9 through the first two periods. Unforced errors and poor coverage led to sustained pockets of pressure for the Sabres. 

"You know, there are some areas that clearly we have to get better at," Montgomery said. "Our D-zone coverage and our tracking were a little slow, and our puck play early on in the first half of the game left a little to be desired."

Closing thoughts...

• Thought Ian Mitchell got better as the game went on. There were some pockets of the third period where it felt like he was everywhere in the offensive zone. He led the way with nine shot attempts. Montgomery on NESN: "I thought Mitchell and [Matt] Grzelcyk did a lot of good things in the offensive zone as defensemen keeping pucks alive. I thought as a whole our D core did a good job there."

• Same for Steen, even if his line with Georgii Merkulov and Danton Heinen bordered on dreadful at times. Had seven attempts with four coming in the slot. Good job of crashing the net for the rebound. He's a waterbug out there. 
• Boqvist was pretty solid. Montgomery seemed pleased: "I thought Boqvist did a lot of really good things, offensively and defensively. You could tell he's an intelligent, responsible player."
• Merkulov, like Fabian Lysell the other night, was just a little out of sync. 
• Grzelcyk briefly exited the game after taking a puck in a most uncomfortable area, but returned for the third period. 
• Milan Lucic was engaged physically, but don't expect him to set any land-speed records. 
• Lauko was all right, but got into penalty trouble, something he dealt with in Game 5 against Florida. Hope that doesn't become a theme.
• A night to forget for Ryan Mast. Took the penalty that led to Skinner's game-opening goal on the power play. Buffalo made it 2-0 when a shot from the point deflected in off him early in the second. Forced a cross-ice stretch pass that wasn't there in his own zone early on. There's potential, but he's a long way off. 
• Frederic Brunet has a ton of skill, but he's also quite a ways away.
• DiPietro stopped three of three high-danger shots and four of five medium-danger shots. Keyser stopped nine of nine high-danger, two of three medium-danger and one of two low-danger. Imagine the low-danger one came off Mast in front.
• Need to see more from PTO candidates Heinen and Alex Chiasson. 
• If you haven't seen it from his video-game-like tenure at Northeastern, it's easy to see why folks are so excited about Devon Levi. 
• Really hard to get a read on what people thought of Zach Benson around the draft, but he's proving he can play in the early going with Buffalo.

The Bruins will be back at it at Warrior Ice Arena on Wednesday and Thursday before continuing the preseason against the Flyers on Friday at TD Garden.