BOSTON -- They haven’t even been back from vacation for a week, and already the Bruins have developed some bad habits.
The B’s lost their second straight game in extra time on Thursday night at TD Garden, dropping a 3-2 decision in overtime to the streaking Flyers. As was the case, the Bruins took a lead into the third period, but couldn’t preserve it.
"We’ve got to fix it," said head coach Bruce Cassidy after the [...]
BOSTON -- They haven’t even been back from vacation for a week, and already the Bruins have developed some bad habits.
The B’s lost their second straight game in extra time on Thursday night at TD Garden, dropping a 3-2 decision in overtime to the streaking Flyers. As was the case, the Bruins took a lead into the third period, but couldn’t preserve it.
“We’ve got to fix it,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy after the B’s fell for the third straight time overall (0-1-2), and fifth time in the last six. “The guys have got to decide if they’re going to play the right way, buy in, and understand what we are right now.”
In Cassidy’s opinion, the B’s are still a team that isn’t getting much scoring outside of its top line and power play, and therefore must be stingy on defense and when killing penalties. Surrendering 41 shots and going 0-for-2 on the penalty kill wasn’t what he had in mind.
The Flyers scored their sixth straight game when Travis Sandheim scored with two seconds remaining on an overtime power play.
Tuukka Rask, playing for the first time since sustaining a concussion in a goalmouth collision on Jan. 19 against the Rangers, made 37 saves, but was denied his bid for a franchise-record 253rd victory. He made 38 saves, but regretted the Sandheim goal.
“It looked like (Sandheim) was looking for that seam pass, so I was cheating,” said Rask, who still improved to 6-0-2 in his last eight decisions. “Next thing you know, it’s in the net.
David Pastrnak scored both of the Bruins’ goals -- one on a power play, the other at even strength. Both goals gave the B’s a one-goal lead.
Rask helped the Bruins hold their 2-1 lead with 13:18 remaining, when he denied Scott Laughton on a penalty shot. Laughton was awarded the opportunity after he blocked a shot by John Moore and ended up with a breakaway, which Moore broke up with a last-second hook from behind.
The Flyers tied it, however, at 10:36, when Oskar Lindblom scored a power play goal 10 seconds before Sean Kuraly finished serving a penalty for holding the stick.
Similar to Tuesday’s 4-3, shootout loss to the Jets, the Bruins dominated much of the first period and took a lead, but failed to build on it. Unlike Tuesday, the B’s couldn’t even keep it.
Pastrnak drew a penalty, then converted on the power play to put the Bruins up 1-0, after just 3:05. With Claude Giroux serving a penalty for tripping Pastrnak after getting beaten on a between-the-skates move, Pastrnak crushed a one-timer past rookie Carter Hart from the right circle. Torey Krug, who hit Pastrnak from the left circle, and Brad Marchand had the assists.
Rask made a big save on James Van Riemsdyk’s 2-on-1 on the shift after the Bruins’ goal, and the B’s went from there to generate a series of opportunities, starting with a Joakim Nordstrom bid at the end of a 3-on-2 rush, which Hart stopped. Hart also took a screened shot by Brandon Carlo off his mask with about three minutes left.
Giroux scored a breakaway goal with 44 seconds remaining to knot it at 1-1. After Charlie McAvoy came in from the right point and shot wide of Hart, Jakub Voracek collected McAvoy’s miss on the opposite side of the ice, he got a pass through Zdeno Chara to send Giroux in alone for a shot that beat Rask to the glove side.
Chara made the Bruins’ second-period go-ahead goal possible by keeping a puck in at the Flyers’ blue line, then dropping it back to Patrice Bergeron, who slid in behind him. Bergeron moved forward to take a wrist shot that Pastrnak deflected through Hart for his 30th goal of the season at 5:11.
The Flyers were the better team in the second, though, outshooting the Bruins 17-7.