Games like this, in which mistakes can cost a team a win and every moment is magnified, will help the Bruins as they keep their eye on the ultimate prize.
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The final, frantic shot came off the sublime stick of David Pastrnak, turned away by Andrei Vasilevskiy with five seconds left in the game. The clock ticked down, and the victorious Lightning skated into a 3-2 victory celebration at the Bruins’ expense Thursday.
An 11th straight home victory for Tampa Bay, the end of a six-game winning streak for Boston, and only the sixth regulation loss overall on this crazy-good Bruins season. Yet as disappointing as those facts may sound in the moment, there exists in sports such a thing as a good loss. And for the Bruins, who long ago made it clear this season is about so much more than regular-season records or the Presidents’ Trophy, the outcome of Thursday night’s game was secondary to the level of play displayed within.
The Bruins need
games like this one, fueled by rivalry and emotion. Did you see Connor Clifton pummel Corey Perry after taking an unwarranted first-period elbow?
The Bruins need games like this one, elevated by high-level play on both ends. Did you see Pastrnak’s stick work on the Bruins’ third-period goal that tied the game at 2?
The Bruins need games like this one, jangled by nerves and bursting with stakes. Did you watch Linus Ullmark keep them in the game time and time again, his 32 saves untarnished by the goals he gave up, rooted as they were in his defense’s mistakes?
The Bruins need games like this one, stained as it was by a couple of head-scratching miscues. Did you see that disjointed penalty kill that left shooter Brandon Hagel all alone, or the ugly defensive tango that put Ullmark on his back and his goal mouth wide open for Victor Hedman’s game-winner?
The Bruins need games like this one, indicative as it was of what it will be like come playoff time, when mistakes are magnified and intensity electrified.
Why else would coach Jim Montgomery come out of the loss nearly grinning as he marveled, “It was a great game, wasn’t it?”
“I thought it was back and forth all night long,” Montgomery said. “The biggest difference, and this is where we can grow, is a couple of details and goals against where we made mistakes in how we want to play things.
“It’s an opportunity. That’s the difference in the playoffs, and that was a playoff-type game. You need to execute in big moments and tonight unfortunately we didn’t, but it’s an opportunity for us to learn and grow and get better.”
Good for Montgomery for continuing to pound the right message, that no matter what type of assault his team makes on those regular-season records, that no matter how many times they prove their mettle by overcoming early deficits or dominating second- and third-period play, they can still get better. This is far from a finished product when the finish line is defined in only one way: the Stanley Cup.
