Nov 15, 2013; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) makes a save on a shot from Ottawa Senators right wing Bobby Ryan (6) in the third period at the Canadian Tire Centre.The Senators defeated the Bruins 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
“They progressively got better, and we progressively got worse. There were some bad mistakes in the 3rd period.” said Bruins coach Claude Julien to NESN after the game. That seemed to sum up last night’s game in a nutshell.
After taking nine out of ten points in their latest home stretch, the Bruins scored two early goals against the Ottawa Senators. Up 2-1 going into the third period, the Bruins allowed simple mistakes and several costly turnovers. Those errors gave the Senators the chance to score three third period goals against Tuukka Rask and gave the Senators a 4-2 win at home against the Bruins. (Their first home win against Boston since 2009.)
The Bruins came out strong in Ottawa last night. The Bruins put in two early goals, courtesy of Loui Eriksson and Brad Marchand. They came out firing on all cylinders for forty minutes, and then they just stopped. They only blemish of the first two periods was Torey Krug making a weak pass that was intercepted by Chris Neil who took the puck and fired it past Tuukka Rask in the last moments of the first period to cut their deficit to 2-1.
“Yeah I would have done something differently. Not a good play. Time and score, last minute of the first period we have a two-nothing lead and poor turnover ends up in the back of our net so it’s something I definitely would go another way with,” said Krug postgame.
Coach Julien agreed with that sentiment. “When you give up a goal there in the last minute it’s not a good thing. So it’s a young player that needs to learn to manage the clock better. So he made a mistake but then we talked about it, we needed to move on.”
The Bruins had several opportunities to put this away in the third, but their best attempt (made by Carl Soderberg) was ruled dead by the referees by an early whistle. That call energized the fans and in turn, energized the Senators. The Senators only had thirteen shots on goal in the first forty minutes, but they finished it off with eighteen in the last twenty. Tuukka offered the mea culpa to the fans after the game, but all in all it was more of a team collapse than just a netminder having a bad game. (That is the first time all season though that Rask allowed four even strength goals.)
“I feel like, every once in a blue moon as a goalie you get one of those games where you feel like there’s a soccer net behind you, and was one of those games, but still, I don’t think we played a really good third period as a team but then again, I would like to make a couple of saves there, keep the game tied.” said Rask of his performance after the game.