Perhaps it’s time for us to just accept that the Bruins and Florida Men don’t pair well together.
After a solidly played first 40 minutes, the Bruins allowed three unanswered goals in the third period to drop their second Florida game in a row, losing to Tampa Bay, 3-1.
Casey Mittelstadt scored the Bruins’ only goal early in the second period, while Jeremy Swayman made 20 saves in the defeat.
Charle-Edouard D’Astous tied the game for Tampa two minutes into the third period, then Darren Raddysh gave
the Lightning the lead with just over five minutes left in regulation.
Nikita Kucherov would add an empty-net goal, and that was that.
The Bruins’ goal came off of a beautiful pass from Viktor Arvidsson, with Mittelstadt cashing in to make it 1-0 Bruins.
D’Astous’s goal came on a good bit of second effort from him, helped by some calamitous defending from the Bruins, making it a 1-1 game early in the third.
Raddysh’s goal…yeah. That’s not a goal you can allow in the third period of a tie game. 2-1 Tampa.
Kucherov’s empty-netter was one of those that was just too easy, with Tampa making a couple of passes and sending Kucherov off to the races.
Bruins lose, 3-1 final.
Game notes
- Yikes. You can look at the Florida game as one where the team got off to a slow start, got going, and got goalie’d a bit. Tonight was almost the opposite, with the B’s playing well early (they outshot Tampa 19-13 in the first two periods) before falling apart.
- This isn’t to pin a loss on a single player, but that Raddysh goal can’t happen. Swayman cannot get beat from there, let alone in the last six minutes of the third period. The entire sequence looked like something you’d have happen to you when playing NHL23 (or pick your year) online: random defenseman gets the puck in the neutral zone, skates up the ice unbothered, shoots from a weird angle, scores, then some teenager starts swearing at you.
- I’m not sure there’s much in this, but it’s worth noting that both of Tampa’s non-empty-net goals came off of plays that started in their own zone. I know that’s usually true of every goal if you rewind it far enough, but both goals seemed to come with the Bruins getting caught flat-footed when an offensive attempt petered out.
- The Bruins went 0-for-4 on the power play, which certainly didn’t help matters. They had two chances in the first period, then had a big power play chance just two minutes after D’Astous’s goal, only to come up empty. NOT GREAT.
- Also in the “NOT GREAT” file, the Bruins managed just three shots on goal in the third period. Yes, Tampa had as many goals as the Bruins had shots. I am not a paid analyst, but you’re not going to win that many games when that happens.
- Mittelstadt’s goal was his 15th of the season, equaling his previous career high; that came back in 2023 with the Buffalo Sabres.
- Depending on your mood at the moment, the Bruins either blew a big opportunity with this game or caught a big break tonight. They failed to pick up any points, but Detroit, Ottawa, Columbus, and the Islanders all lost Saturday as well, so the Bruins didn’t really lose any ground.
- Montreal did end up winning on Saturday, putting that third spot in the Atlantic a bit further out of reach. They’re now six points ahead of the Bruins, with a game in hand as well.
Some minor housekeeping: with this recap up and a 3:30 PM game tomorrow, there won’t be a separate preview for that game.
We’ll put up a Public Skate a bit earlier than usual, so feel free to congregate there.
If you observe, Happy Easter. If you don’t, Happy Sunday?
