Looking to sweep a four-game road trip aaginst four good Western Conference teams, the Boston Bruins faced a major challenge against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night in Texas. The last game of a long road trip is always the toughest, as is the first game back at home, which for the Black and Gold is Thursday night against the Nashville Predators.
Boston grabbed a pair of leads, 1-0 and 2-1, on goals from two young players, James Hagens and Matthew Poitras. However, the Stars rallied twice, behind two Mikko Rantanen goals before he completed his hat trick in overtime for a 3-2 victory. The loss ended the Bruins' five-game winning streak, but they still finished the trip by taking seven out of eight points. Marco Sturm would have taken that in a heartbeat.
However, there were some odd decisions that the second-year coach made late in regulation and overtime. After the game, Sturm explained that despite the good games his younger players had, there are some things they still need to learn.
Marco Sturm made some odd late-game decisions in OT loss to the Stars
For the last five minutes of regulation, Hagens, nor Poitras saw the ice. They didn't see it in overtime either. Neither did young defensemen Frederic Brunet or Mason Lohrei. After the game, Sturm hinted at potentially why the younger kids sat the final eight-plus minutes between regulation and overtime.
“It’s a good thing. Again, they still need to learn,” Sturm said, per the Boston Bruins YouTube page. “You could see it when you play a team like Dallas today, a lot of veterans, and it’s kind of like a little bit more of a playoff atmosphere. You could tell they made a little bit more mistakes than some other games. But it’s healthy, though. It’s going to help them moving forward.”
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So, if by some chance the Bruins make the playoffs, are they going to sit late-game situations? Sitting two forwards who scored was certainly a decision. Same with the defensemen. It's not the first game of a road trip; it was the last, and the other players who were double-shifted and stuff were exhausted. How tired? Well, Boston failed to get a shot on net over the final 13 minutes of regulation or overtime. You can't score if you don't shoot.
Learning is part of the way young players get better and move on. However, it was clear that Sturm was playing for at least one point against Dallas, and truthfully, they were lucky to get there, given how he shortened the bench over the second half of the third period and overtime. It's early, but learning is part of the process. That wasn't the case against the Stars. Young, fresh legs would have been nice to have.
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