Bruins stumble against Devils, lose second straight

The Bruins proved to be an extremely likable team through the first quarter of this most unusual of seasons. They battled in every game, making spirited comebacks and standing up physically whenever challenged. No hole was too deep from which to climb.

But sometimes you get what you deserve, and that’s what happened to the B’s on Thursday.

The B’s were outplayed for most of the night by the hard-working New Jersey Devils, and though they made a late push in the third period, they dropped their first game at the Garden, 3-2.

To make matters worse, the B’s lost David Krejci to a lower body injury in the first period.

But they did fight until the end.

The B’s fell down 3-1 in the second period and could not gain any traction in the third until Ty Smith took a delay-of-game penalty with 2:11 left in regulation. With Jaroslav Halak pulled for an extra skater, David Pastrnak scored on a long-distance shot to get within a goal.

Then, in the waning seconds, Pastrnak blasted a shot that goalie Mackenzie Blackwood was able to get his left arm on and the Devils hung on.

Playing their first game at the Garden since Jan. 28, the Bruins had some good shifts to start the game, but it went downhill fairly quickly.

Thanks to a bad change, the B’s found themselves hemmed in their own end as the Devils were able to make a change and keep the pressure going. But despite being in their own zone too long, they didn’t give up many good scoring chances. The same was true on the only power play of the period, which went to Jersey, providing good support to Halak.

The B’s were guilty of various mistakes in the first — over-passing in the offensive zone, giveaways in the defensive zone — and were more often than not beaten to loose pucks. They did get one good scoring chance late in the period when Anders Bjork cut between two Devils defenders and got off a good shot that grazed off Blackwood’s left arm and went wide.

Shots were seven apiece in the first period, but the play did not feel even.

With four days off in between games, coach Bruce Cassidy mixed up his forward lines, most notably putting Jake DeBrusk up with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand and moving Pastrnak to the Krejci-Nick Ritchie line. But Cassidy was forced to change them all up again when Krejci did not come out for the second period and would be lost for the night with a lower body injury.

And not too deep into the second period, the Devils had themselves a lead.

After a miscommunication between Bruins in the Jersey zone, the Devils were allowed to break out with speed. Inside the Boston blue line, Jack Hughes made a pretty backhand pass to Kyle Palmieri, who had a step on Ritchie and beat Halak low to the glove side.

The Devils doubled their lead just when it looked like the B’s had a chance to make some hay. On a New Jersey power play, P.K. Subban high-sticked Bjork, drawing blood and going to the box for four minutes. But when the B’s went on the power play, the Devils and Palmieri gashed them for a shorthanded goal. Charlie McAvoy’s pass up ice was deflected by Jesper Bratt in the neutral zone and Damon Severson sprung Palmieri for a clean break-in off the right boards. With time to pick his spot, Palmieri sniped it between Halak’s pads at 10:39.

The B’s did get one back on the power play on DeBrusk’s first goal of the season at 12:36. Connor Clifton, pinching down low, forced a rushed clear attempt from Palmieri and it went right to DeBrusk, who potted it over Blackwood’s blocker arm.

But after Charlie Coyle and Nathan Bastian took matching roughing minors, the Devils reclaimed their two-goal lead at 15:37. Pavel Zacha made a beautiful spin move, eluding DeBrusk’s check attempt, and then pulled off a nice give-and-go with Andreas Johnsson, taking the return pass from Johnsson and beating Halak to the blocker side.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2NIWo7W