The Boston Bruins fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first meeting between the two Atlantic Division titans. The Lightning leave Boston with a 4-3 shootout victory.
Boston relied way too much on the power play against Tampa, and it showed in the final result.
The Bruins jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first period thanks to a David Pastrnak power play tally. This would be a theme for the Bruins, as they needed power plays to score all three of their goals.
Tampa Bay got the better of the 5 on 5 play versus Boston, and this proved to be the difference in the game.
Late in the first period, the Lightning took advantage of a defensive breakdown. Brayden Point split the defense and scored on a breakaway with less then two seconds left.
The Bruins weren’t at any manpower disadvantage here, but Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy still lost track of Point in the neutral zone. They simply needed to do a better job tracking one of Tampa’s best forwards.
In the second period, the Bruins again conceded a goal while 5 on 5. Jake DeBrusk turned the puck over at the attacking blue line, and this led to a counterattack for Tampa. Matthieu Joseph ended up cleaning up a rebound to tie the game at two.
DeBrusk’s turnover was a costly mistake. He can’t give the puck up like that, especially against a team like Tampa. Their top line wasn’t out there, but the Lightning still have the depth to capitalize.
The Bruins gave up a third 5 on 5 goal in the third period, but fortunately the power play again bailed them out. Pastrnak scored his second goal of the game to send it to overtime.
The big takeaway from the game isn’t that the Bruins struggled at even strength. That’s bound to happen against quality teams like Tampa, so it’s great that Boston has a good enough power play to hang in there.
The takeaway is that the Bruins cannot afford to make mental errors while 5 on 5.
Chara and McAvoy lost track of Point, and this cost the Bruins a tough goal late in the first. Then, DeBrusk turned the puck over in the second, and this led to another Lightning goal.
These types of mistakes shouldn’t happen 5 on 5, but unfortunately they doomed the Bruins Thursday night. The Bruins need to clean up their play at even strength during the upcoming home and home against the Leafs.