Leading the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-0, entering the third period, it seemed like the Boston Bruins were going to roll to two points in the standings. It would have been two huge points in the standings in what is turning into a heated Eastern Conference playoff race.
Former Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy and Vegas had other ideas.
Jack Eichel scored early in the third period, and then a power play goal a few minutes later made things interesting, and truth be told, 4-2 felt like a lead that was going to be easy for the Golden Knights to come back from. They closed within 4-3 with less than three minutes left, the Black and Gold had to survive, literally, the final two and a half minutes to escape with a one-goal win. After the game, Marco Sturm didn't beat around the bush about taking the positives out of the game rather than the negatives.
“The way we started in the third,” said Sturm. “Just too many mistakes, shouldn’t happen. Overall, I liked how we responded today. It was probably one of our better 40 minutes playing hockey – that’s why I see it more as a positive than a negative.”
Sure, it's two points, but you can't ignore the third period. Boston almost erased everything they did in the first 40 minutes in just 20 minutes. However, two points are two points, and there was another message from Sturm following the game.
Bruins rebound from dismal performance at Dallas
Tuesday night, the Bruins fell behind 6-0 in Dallas to the Stars, and before Morgan Geekie got them on the board with a power play goal in the third period, the final result was all but set. It wasn't a performance that made Sturm happy, but he liked their response in the opening two periods against the Golden Knights.
“I think we just had the right attitude,” Sturm said. “We touched on a few things from the Dallas game; we just didn’t like the game, how it went, and how it turned out. I think overall, guys just showed up today, and they wanted to prove to anyone that that’s not our game. We’re better than that.”
Make no mistake about it, the Bruins have been one of the hottest teams in the league, along with the Buffalo Sabres. They have done a nice job this season, for the most part, of responding to losses with a workmanlike performance. That did against Vegas, for 40 minutes. A win is a win, but you know that the final 20 minutes will not sit well with Sturm, regardless of what he said following the game.