After sweeping the first three games of their four-game road trip in California, the Boston Bruins were looking to close out the trip in Texas against the Dallas Stars with a sixth straight win. Usually, the American Airlines Center has been a nightmare for the Bruins, and it was less than ideal that they were making the trip this season to close out a long road trip that spanned across the country.
Boston blew a third-period lead, and they fell in overtime despite two saves by Jeremy Swayman on Wyatt Johnston breakaways, 3-2. Mikko Rantanen scored a power-play goal in the extra session to complete his hat trick. Here are four takeaways after the Bruins fell to 7-2-1 and finally headed back to Boston.
Bruins youth continues to be served
The Bruins have been looking to add youth to the lineup, and early in the season, it's been producing, and that was the case again on Tuesday night. They got one goal early in the first period and then a strike in the second period.
Early in the game, the Bruins took advantage of a Stars turnover in the defensive end, and Frederic Brunet made a cross-ice pass to Matthew Poitras, and he ripped a slap shot past Jake Oettinger for a 1-0 lead. In the second period, after Dallas tied the game, James Hagens scored for a 2-1 lead on a redirected pass at the top of the crease. Two homegrown Bruins players scoring, you love to see it.
Bruins power play continues to overpass and not shoot enough
I know you're probably sick of hearing about the Bruins' power play woes, but sooner or later, it needs to get figured out. They have six-man advantage goals this season: three in one game against the Utah Mammoth and three last Friday night against the Anaheim Ducks. Against Dallas, you have to give credit where credit is do for the Stars, but man, neither units look anywhere near confident.
Boston didn't even get a shot on the net in their first two power plays in the game as the usual issues popped up. Terrible zone entries and overpassing. There were times when Pavel Zacha was in a good spot to take a shot, and he'd make a pass to David Pastrnak that never got there. Dallas pressured the Black and Gold power play so well for the first 45 seconds of their second chance that the Bruins had trouble coming out of their own end. You can't score if you don't shoot. They had four chances and came away empty. You play with fire, you get burned.
Bruins gift Stars goals
Dallas is a good team, but one that relies on their defense and Oettinger. They have trouble scoring goals after their top line. That's why zone exits were huge for the Bruins, but a failed clear attempt early in the second period led to the game-tying goal.
The puck got to the blue line, but didn't get the puck out. Jeremy Swayman made a save on the original shot, but Jason Robertson poked the puck away from the Bruins' netminder, and Rantanen buried the loose puck to even the score. Simple plays against teams struggling to score need to be better.
Bruins have a very successful trip despite the loss
Entering the third period with a lead usually has been a good thing for the Bruins early in the season. They entered the game 3-0-0 when leading after 40 minutes, and they have outscored opponents 16-5 entering the final period.
However, after spending the first three minutes of the period on the power play and coming up empty, you knew it would cost them. It did. Clinging to a 2-1 lead with six-plus minutes left, Charlie McAvoy blocked a shot in the slot, but the puck went to Rantanen, and he buried his second of the game to tie it 2-2. The writing was on the wall as the Stars spent a majority of the period in the Black and Gold's end, and it finally paid off.
All in all, seven out of a possible eight points out West early in the season is a very good trip for a Bruins team that had a lot of questions entering the season. They host the Nashville Predators on Thursday night at the TD Garden.
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