Boston Bruins: Blown leads continue to be a problem

An early three-goal lead in Pittsburgh somehow resulted in another loss for the Boston Bruins.

Fresh off last Thursday’s victory, the Boston Bruins took on the Pittsburgh Penguins in a Sunday matinee. Despite the early start on the road, everything looked great in the first period for the visitors.

Boston jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Patrice Bergeron, Anders Bjork, and David Pastrnak. The Bruins looked ready to take all four points in the home-and-home with the Penguins.

Unfortunately, those three goals were all the Bruins mustered. Pittsburgh battled back with four unanswered goals in three periods to win the game 4-3 in regulations. Even with the early three-goal lead, the Bruins left Pittsburgh without any points.

A multi-goal blown lead is nothing new for the Bruins. In fact, you don’t even have to go back a week to find the most recent one. Boston lost a shootout in Philadelphia last Monday after a three-goal lead in the second period.

So far, the Bruins have six multi-goal blown leads this season. Only one of those games resulted in a victory. The other five ended with losses; three in overtime and two in regulation.

It’s doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that those five losses account for seven total points in the standings. That number should be zero; teams with the talent of Boston must win when they go up by more than one goal.

These blown leads were easy to shake off earlier in the season given Boston’s place in the standings. With such a big lead in the Atlantic, we all joked how these regular-season games don’t matter. It’s all about the playoffs, right?

However, now we can’t overlook these blown leads. First, the Bruins still lead the Atlantic, but Tampa Bay is only behind by six points. With head-to-head matchups on the schedule, a six-point division lead isn’t much.

Second, the blown leads may speak to a bigger problem about Boston’s roster. Do the players feel fatigue from last season’s deep playoff run? And not only physical fatigue, but mental and emotional as well. The Bruins seem to take their foot off the gas when they go up by a couple goals, and then they don’t have enough left to bounce back.

Look, it’s hard to feel too concerned since the Bruins continue to find themselves near the top of the conference. Sunday’s loss against Pittsburgh was only the 10th of the season.

That said, this season is pretty much championship-or-bust for the Bruins. Championship teams don’t usually lose games when they lead by two or three goals.