OTTAWA — Slumbering bears for much of the first two periods Tuesday night, the Bruins awakened with a ferocious growl in the third, pulled into a tie with the help of a 27-shot barrage, but ultimately left with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators.
Alex DeBrincat, who provided the Senators with a 2-1 lead, snatched the 2 points away as the lone shooter to connect in shootout, tucking a slick backhander inside the left post on Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman.
But the true star of the evening was Cam Talbot, the superb Senators stopper, who snuffed out 26 of 27 shots in the torrid third and then three more in overtime, before turning back Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, and finally David Pastrnak in the shootout.
Talbot, traded to the Senators by the Wild in the offseason, finished with 49 saves in what was the Bruins’ biggest shot total of the season.
“It seemed like we were giving Cam all that he could handle,” said DeBrusk. “I give him a lot of credit. I used to skate with Cam in the summer when he was in Edmonton. I have a lot of respect for him. It [stinks] that we couldn’t get the 2 points, but it was a barrage of shots. We gave it our best chance and you have to give credit where it’s due.”
The Bruins’ loss, only their seventh this season (27-4-3), was their second in Ottawa. They suffered a 7-5 defeat here in October, the first of only four regulation losses they have 34 games into the season. The Black and Gold remained in first place in the league’s overall standings, 5 points ahead of the Hurricanes.
“Our goal was to get better every period,” noted Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, whose squad returned to Newark after the game and will face the Devils Wednesday night. “I thought our first [period] was OK, our second wasn’t as good — I give credit to Ottawa. But I thought the third, we really got to our game.”
Without a goal for the last six weeks, Pavel Zacha knotted it for the Bruins, 2-2, with only 3:33 remaining in the third-period onslaught. A blocked shot ping-ponged over to Zacha in the left circle and he sniped a quick shot by Talbot for only his fourth goal of the season.
Zacha had not scored since Nov. 13, his goal ending a slump of 17 games without a strike.
“It felt good to put it in,” said a relieved Zacha. “I think I had a lot of chances the last couple of games … and scoring a goal in the third period, trying to give the team a chance to win, yeah, it felt good.”
Swayman, who finished with 30 saves, was strong from start to finish and was stellar in overtime, when he turned back all six Ottawa shots, including Brady Tkachuk on a breakaway with 12 seconds to go.
“Awesome comeback in the third — I thought the guys played so well,” said Swayman. “And hats off to Talbot — a fun goalie battle.”
The Senators, in need of a lengthy win streak to get back into the playoff discussion, moved out to a 2-1 lead with a pair of goals — by Tim Stutzle and DeBrincat — in the second period.
DeBrusk, with his third goal in as many games, knotted it at even strength only 2:22 later. Set up on the right side by Patrice Bergeron, a streaking DeBrusk missed wide right with his initial attempt, then collected a random hop off the rear wall for the easy deposit on the short side.
“I missed the net a couple of times today,” mused DeBrusk. “That was a lucky bounce. Just one of those things, the puck kind of hits the stanchion. I was [ticked] off originally, then I saw it there and just tapped it in. Lucky bounce, for sure. Next time I’ll try to beat the goalie with a shot.”
DeBrincat’s go-ahead goal came as he jumped off the bench, gained a step on the Boston defense, and finished with a clever roof shot at the top of the crease at 13:37.
The Bruins felt the goal should have been disallowed because Tkachuk knocked the puck down with his hand as he was leaving the ice at the moment DeBrincat popped over the boards. Rather than a goal, it looked like the Senators should have been penalized for having too many men on the ice.
“That’s what we were thinking,” said Montgomery, feeling the Senators should have been penalized and the goal negated. “He said [DeBrincat] was still technically on the bench — he wasn’t on the ice yet.”
Earlier in the second period, at the 2:25 mark, Bergeron potted the night’s first goal, only to see it wiped off the board when replays showed Bergeron was an inch or two offside when Brad Marchand carried the puck into the zone on left wing. It was erased and 34 seconds were added back on the clock.
If not for Swayman, credited with 11 stops in the first, the Bruins could have been down by two or three goals by the first intermission. Instead, it was 0-0, with Talbot turning back 14 shots in the Senators’ cage.
One of the Bruins’ best bids in the first came at 15:53 when Craig Smith, without a goal since Oct. 27, was set up at the top of the crease with a Nick Foligno feed. Smith pulled the puck to his forehand and tried to roof it, but Talbot was too quick to get to it. One day Smith’s luck will change. Maybe.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.
"lose" - Google News
December 28, 2022 at 11:07AM
https://ift.tt/QOXqGIM
Bruins again lose in Ottawa, this time falling to the Senators in a shootout - The Boston Globe
"lose" - Google News
https://ift.tt/AuXlptB https://ift.tt/QSyetfr
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Bruins again lose in Ottawa, this time falling to the Senators in a shootout - The Boston Globe"
Post a Comment