Bruins bring the fire early, but it smolders out late in a 3-2 loss to the Penguins.

Mar 3, 2013; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton (27) is congratulated by center Brad Marchand (63) after scoring a goal during the second period against the Montreal Canadiens at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Well, we were hoping with another amazing audience rendition of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’, the Bruins would come out of the gates and hand the fans a major victory over another hockey club. Since today’s opponent was the East leading Pittsburgh Penguins, I thought that might be a bit of a stretch. I was still hoping for a win. Not just for the Nation, but one of those moments the team could share with the other teams in the NHL. Unfortunately, the Bruins let Pittsburgh score late, and last second heroics kept the win away from the Bruins. They lost to the Penguins by a final score of 3-2.

These last few games we’ve shown the league we’re BOSTON strong, but we’ve been lacking in the Boston STRONG department.(The Bruins are 0-3-1 in their last four games.) Once again, the coach decided to mix up the lines and make a few changes to inspire or discipline his players. Milan Lucic, was given the (no offense Looch) long overdue healthy scratch for today’s game.  Carl “Yeti” Soderberg got his first NHL start tonight as a member of the Black and Gold.

The Bruins gave up two third period power play goals in the third. Was some of the officiating questionable? Yes. Did it really steal our thunder and cause a depleted Pittsburgh squad to run rough-shod over us in the final period? Absolutely.

The Bruins did start off early with a great goal by Brad Marchand.  Tuukka Rask even scored an assist on that play. While Brad Marchand was shut out of tonight’s three stars, this Bruin at least went out there and played with his heart on his sleeve.  #63 summed up his feelings post-game with the press. “We felt the same way as last game with the ceremony and again with all the police and fireman and everything in the building. It was a special time again and we definitely built a lot of momentum off that. We came out very hard, had a great start, and again, we carried that through the whole game pretty much. Again, we just didn’t get the results.”

“When we play a game like we did tonight and we only get one goal, and one with a couple of seconds left, it’s definitely frustrating,” added  Marchand. “We deserved a little better, but we got to put a little onus on ourselves and make sure we step [up] in the next game.”

Teams need to have momentum going into the post season. It’s very rare to see a team come on fire in the playoffs after a bad run going into them. We all want to see the duck boats down Boylston Street. (After the events of the last week, I dare say we need them.) I love the Black and Gold, but I’m getting worried that we won’t see a repeat of 2011. I’m afraid we’ll see a repeat of the ‘one and done’ in 2012.