Losers of six straight on the road, the Boston Bruins were looking at a golden opportunity on Sunday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Penguins on the backend of a back-to-back. Coming off a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon at the TD Garden, the Bruins had a huge chance to separate themselves from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the race for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot in the East.
Pittsburgh was missing its top two players, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby was injured in the Olympics and will be out for a week. Malkin was suspended for his incident last week against the Buffalo Sabres. he was slapped with a five-game ban, and his second game was against Boston.
Everything was setting up perfectly for the Black and Gold. They built a 3-0 lead in the second period before things went off the rails and off the rails quickly. They took two penalties, giving the Pens a 5-on-3 that they scored on, giving them some life entering the third period. They tied the game up with two goals 33 seconds apart before retaking the lead in Pavel Zacha's third goal of the game.
Pittsburgh, however, tied the game again and won it 17 seconds into overtime, 5-4, dealing the Bruins an inexcusable loss. After the game, head coach Marco Sturm had a quote that was rather head-scratching.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm has head-scratching quote after loss to Penguins
In a playoff race where points are at a premium, Boston again left one point on the table on the road. This is the type of meltdown that can cost you a postseason berth in April. Sturm, however, had an odd take.
“Two-goal lead going into the third and playing really, overall, solid defense,” said Sturm. “Then you just give it up in the third period. Of course, not happy about that, but at the end of the day, it’s a good point for us. Something we have to learn (from) and move forward.”
Wait, what? Is it a good point for them? What are we doing here? This is an inexcusable loss in every facet of the game. You have a 3-0 lead on the road with 26 minutes left against a team missing their two star players, and it's a good point for them at the end of the day? My goodness.
I get it, he doesn't want to call out his team, but at some point, you have to admit it is what it is. A bad loss and a loss of a pivotal second point. Again, Pittsburgh was missing its two best players, and you had a 3-0 lead with 26 minutes left against a team that was elft for dead.
I like Marco Sturm, and he's done wonders with this roster, but let's call it like it is, please. This was a bad loss and a loss of a valuable point they are going to need in six weeks when the regular season ends.