Mar 30, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Boston Bruins goalie
Tuukka Rask(40) against the Philadelphia Flyers during the third period at the Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers defeated the Bruins, 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Well, we were hoping we could have swept the Hurricanes this season. We were hoping that we could further reduce Carolina fans to a state of a ‘tropical depression’. That didn’t happen for us tonight. The Bruins were taken down in a 4-2 upset at the PNC arena in Raleigh. The Bruins fall to 26-11-4, and the Carolinas get a win for the pride column after a disastrous 0-13-1 run these last few weeks.
The game came down to simple mistakes that the Bruins usually don’t make. It was unusual to see the Bruins give up two power play goals, and the same could be said for Tuukka giving up a soft goal that tied things up at the end of the first period. The first period did have three fights in different weight classes. Gregory Campbell, Shawn Thornton, and Zdeno Chara all got the ‘five for fighting’ in a first period that seemed like the start of another Bruins freight train.
The Bruins had a 5-on-3, and Jaromir Jagr was in position to put in a go ahead goal against Carolina. Somehow, Carolina goalie Justin Peters (who was benched after two early goals in the last game against Boston) got in a spectacular glove save. “There was a little extra motivation for sure,” said Peters, who stopped twenty eight shots on net. “I wanted to put forth a better effort for the boys because of how hard they’ve been working, and how good the atmosphere has been in here. It’s nice to get a result for the team.”
The Bruins have dropped two in a row, and still need just one point to get themselves into the playoffs. Coach Claude Julien was obviously disappointed with the team’s performance tonight, but he still believes that the Black and Gold will move further up than their current fourth seed in the Conference. “We’re starting to turn that corner,” said Julien. “I think it will get better. We have another two weeks here and this is where it has to happen. I sense some things coming around. We’ve just got to push in the areas that we have to improve and we’ll be OK.”
The two bright spots in this mess are that Carl Soderberg, Sweden, and the Bruins have finally come to an arraignment and we should be seeing him on the ice by next week. The other one is that the Toronto Maple Leafs dished out a 5-1 shellacking on the Montreal Canadiens and the Bruins are still but one point out of the lead in the Northeast Division
The Bruins get their next chance to clinch that spot on Monday night. They’ll be taking on the always determined Ottawa Senators. Hopefully, the Bruins can clear out the cobwebs and secure that spot.