As sky high as the Bruins were after Tuesday night’s emotional win over the Florida Panthers, the tank looked just as bone-dry empty for the Black and Gold in an equally challenging Wednesday night road game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The B’s ended up going 1-for-2 on the grueling Florida portion of their trip after dropping a 3-1 loss to the Bolts at Amalie Arena on the second night of a back-to-back where there wasn’t as much emotion, some frustrating passivity returned to Boston’s game that always crops up at their low points and the B’s went long stretches without much of an offensive push including the opening 10 minutes of the second period when they couldn’t muster even a single shot on net.
A second period 3-on-1 where Charlie Coyle turned down a shot at a yawning net, where eventually the Bruins didn’t even get a shot on net at all, was the perfect microcosm of what went wrong for Boston on a tough second night of back-to-backs.
Charlie Coyle wyd??? pic.twitter.com/3VMmH651ET
— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) March 28, 2024
“Tough loss. We weren’t at our best and obviously didn’t deserve to win. The outcome was as it should be,” said David Pastrnak, who had no points in 22:43 of ice time though it was his strong forecheck that led to Boston’s only goal for Danton Heinen. “It’s too bad because it was a heck of a game from our group yesterday [against Florida] and we just couldn’t roll it over into today. It’s a tough loss, but obviously we have to move on and learn.
“The power play and 6-on-5 we need to be much better than that and it’s on us, the guys that are out there in those times.”
Aside from Heinen’s first-period goal that tied the game at the time, there weren’t enough signs of Boston’s offense willing to push through a stiff Tampa defense and Andrei Vasilevskiy (23 saves) reminding everybody he will be a playoff equalizer for Tampa. But to Pastrnak’s point, they had just four shots on net on the two power play possessions and couldn’t muster enough pressure at the end of the game when they pulled their goalie prior to Nikita Kucherov’s empty netter that sealed things.
The good news for the Bruins is they maintained their two-point lead over the Panthers in the Atlantic Division despite the defeat, but the Lightning moved just two points behind the Maple Leafs for the third divisional playoff spot. That could make things very interesting for a Bruins group that should be looking to avoid the high-powered, experienced Lightning in any kind of early-round playoff matchup at pretty much all costs.
The Bruins finished with a 1-1-2 record against Tampa Bay this season and lost three tight hockey games where the Lightning showed they were just a little better than Boston when going head-to-head. That should be a concern for the Black and Gold as opposed to a potential first-round matchup against a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs that they have owned pretty much all season, and in every playoff matchup in recent memory as well.
“It’s never easy to play any team this time of year, but the teams that we do play – a lot of them are at the top of the league and the few ones that aren’t are fighting for their lives – that’s what you want. You want to be part of the games that are getting you prepared mentally and physically,” said Brad Marchand. “It will help us fine tune our game making sure we’re playing the right way getting ready for the playoffs.
“When you sit on your lead in the standings and get comfortable, that’s when you set yourself up for failure in the playoffs. I love the fact that we’ve got a lot of the top teams [at the end of the schedule], so it’s going to be competitive every single night. We’re going to need our mindset in the right place.”
Clearly Wednesday night wasn’t Boston’s best, but it also served as an example of just how difficult Tampa Bay can be to compete against when they’re firing on anything close to all cylinders.
"I'm not going to take anything away from what we did. I thought we played strong from the drop of the puck right to the end," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "Boston had a really hard-fought game last night, found a way to dig in, come back and get that win. The message to the guys was, there are times you should catch a team that might be a little tired. Getting the lead was big for us tonight. But I thought ... take advantage of a team that emptied the tank the night before and we did."
The Lightning didn’t seem to be all full power either after just returning from a West Coast trip, but they hadn’t played the previous few nights while waiting to jump all over a sapped Bruins team after a draining win in Sunrise. So much so that it was part of their game plan while jumping out to an early lead after Mitchell Chaffee got behind the Bruins defense to bang home a perfectly executed backhanded sauce pass from Nick Paul.
The Bruins responded with a game-tying goal from Heinen seven minutes later, but after that it felt like all the gas drained from Boston’s tank. Brayden Point scored the eventual game-winner on a wraparound behind the Boston net when Linus Ullmark couldn’t shut off the post, and Ullmark was blaming himself a bit afterward despite playing well in stopping 28-of-30 shots in the loss.
Brayden Point Theater starring Biz as Linus Ullmark, Ace as Brayden Point and Wayne as the understudy 🤣 pic.twitter.com/2PNV2S1tu6
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) March 28, 2024
"I like to win every game I play. Right now, it seems like I'm letting in one too many," said Ullmark. "But I also could be speaking out of my emotions right now. Especially when you’re playing against these teams and what’s to come [in the playoffs] as well. You’re fighting for the top spot [in the division] and all that kind of stuff. Maybe tomorrow I can take a better look at it, go through it with Bob [Essensa] and see if there’s anything that needs to be taken care of, or if we can just keep building.”
The schedule doesn’t get any easier with an upcoming road game against a Washington Capitals club similarly scratching and clawing for playoff position, and upcoming games against Carolina and Florida teams also bracing for the Stanley Cup playoffs among Boston’s final eight games of the season.
But as empty as the Wednesday night loss to Tampa might have felt coming off a robust, feel-good win over the Panthers just 24 hours before that, it will serve the Bruins better in a few weeks come playoff time rather than racking up points against NHL weak sisters readying their golf clubs for early spring usage.
That’s what the Bruins are laser-focused on as they navigate the highs and lows of late regular season results while building toward the postseason.