Recap: Bruins outplay and outshoot Red Wings, but lose 2-1

If someone would have told you the Boston Bruins outshot the Detroit Red Wings 42-16, you surely would have thought they won. By a lot too.

Well, welcome to the 2021-22 Bruins.

Despite outplaying and outshooting the Red Wings, the Bruins fell 2-1 on Tuesday night in Boston. The members of the black-and-gold managed to get just one shot by Alex Nedeljkovic, who was lights out for the Red Wings.

David Pastrnak scored the lone goal while Linus Ullmark made 14 saves. Boston dropped to 11-8-0 on the season.

1st period

The first period was a real snooze-fest to be honest. Not much action on either side. The only thing that stood out was the chemistry between the new top line of Pastrnak, Taylor Hall and Patrice Bergeron with Brad Marchand out.

No score after the first.

2nd period

The Bruins really began to control the pace of play and started to pepper the Wings with shots, but they really all came from the outside with no traffic in front.

Detroit got on the board first after a Charlie Coyle turnover in the neutral zone sent Flip Zadina in a breakaway and he beat Ullmark glove-side.

Back breaking goal to give up so early when Boston had controlled most of the game so far.

Again, Bruins ended up with chances, but no real dangerous ones. They found themselves down 1-0 heading into the final frame.

3rd period

Boston was blessed with a 5-on-3 early in the third. It certainly had the feelings of a must-score situation and Pastrnak got that message.

They had tried the one-timer option a few times with Pastrnak on the outside, but this time he slid more towards the slot. Great feed from Hall and he beat Nedeljkovic to tie the game.

Well, with under 10 to go, Detroit grabbed the lead back. With a delayed penalty being called, the Red Wings were up a man on the ice. Vladislav Namestnikov threw a puck on net, it squirted out to the side and Marc Staal put it in the net.

Boston was outshooting Detroit 39-15 at that point. 2-1 game Detroit.

And that’s how it ended. Nothing doing the rest of the way for the Bruins and dropped a very important divisional game.

Notes

• Biggest thing of this game is that yeah, the Bruins had 42 shots. But they had maybe two, or three dangerous opportunities. Everything felt like it was from the outside, with no bodies in front of Nedeljkovic. They made it a pretty easy 41 saves
• First game with Marchand and his presence was missed for sure. This team is not at all the same without him
• Rough game for Coyle. Turnover on the first goal and just didn’t seem to handle the puck well all night
• The passing from the Bruins was tough to watch at times. Nothing was stick-to-stick and if it was, no one was catching it cleanly
• One shot, one hit in 10:25 of ice time for Jake DeBrusk. Not the best showing for someone looking to go elsewhere
• Pastrnak with nine shots on goal. He almost outshot the Red Wings himself
• That new first line actually played pretty well. Turns out when you surround Hall with other top-caliber players, he’s pretty damn good
• Credit to Nedeljkovic, it was probably the easiest 41 saves he’s ever had, but 41 saves is 41 saves. He swallowed up everything and didn’t give up rebounds
• Tough game to watch at times from both sides. Just not a lot of action, speed or emotion at times
• I know the schedule hasn’t worked in their favor, but losing to a Red Wings team currently ahead of them in the standings is not great for the Bruins

Well, once again, the Bruins are going to need to turn things around. Very much getting the sense this is a middle-of-the-road team. Will start right above .500, but that’s about it.

Next are the Nashville Predators on Thursday. Do they win? Do they lose? Do they even score? Tune in next game to find out!