Boston Bruins

Bruins lose 'not fun' game to Senators, Krug to injury
April 7, 2017, 3:26 AM ET [38 Comments]
Ty Anderson
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It was four games and four losses for the Bruins in their season series against the Senators.

And frustration with Ottawa coach Guy Boucher’s straight-up infuriating system, which could be a first-round nightmare for the Bruins beginning next week, has finally reared its head.

“It’s hard to play against. It’s not fun – not that the game is fun – but when you’re skating and handling the puck and you’re physical and those parts of the games, going up and, you know, you’re playing in all three zones it’s more enjoyable for everybody,” Bruins interim coach Bruce Cassidy admitted. “But that’s their style of play – it works for them – we’ve got to find a way to get through it. It’s that simple, and we’ll look at it should we bump into them next week. We’ll just have to find a better way. But I still believe we did it in the first period and if you can extend the lead it forces them to play a little bit more of the game we would prefer to play, but that’s the way it goes.”

In a battle for playoff positioning, the Bruins jumped out to a 1-0 lead in a 15-shot first period when Drew Stafford beat Senators goalie Craig Anderson on a power-play wraparound goal, his eighth goal of the season, and one that was kickstarted by a Zdeno Chara keep-in on a botched Ben Harpur clear.

But as the Sens adjusted in the middle frame, an unassisted goal from Alex Burrows brought the Bruins and Sens even at 1-1 through two periods of play, and it only got worse for the Bruins.

Held to just three shots in the third period, and pushed to overtime thanks to big third period stops from Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask, the Bruins continued to struggle for spacing even in the three-on-three overtime, and moved to a shootout where Kyle Turris scored the only goal.

For Cassidy, it came back to the club’s inability to build on their lead and force the Sens, who were down Erik Karlsson for this game, to play from anything besides a position of strength.

“If we could have extended the lead with some of those opportunities we might have saw a different game – force them to open up a little bit – but we didn’t and they were able to get back in it and that’s their type of game. They’re playing to their strengths, defending the neutral zone with numbers,” admitted Cassidy. “We clearly could have executed better; we tried to put some things in place, but they weren’t working. Not that it was coming back down our throat like it did in Ottawa a lot, but we just ended up icing a lot of pucks – we just misfired – and at the end of the day, if we’re cleaner there we probably get a few more attack situations, opportunities to score a goal. Having said that, I thought we defended well enough to win, but we need a little better finish around the net.”

In what was a revert back to the first two games of the season, the Bruins had an almost impossibly difficult time breaking through the neutral zone and making a strong first pass out of their end. That was only magnified when the Bruins lost Torey Krug to injury early in the first period. And by the end of the night, the Bruins just looked straight-up miserable trying to find seams against the Senators.

“They play a system that’s frustrating and not easy to play against and clog up the neutral zone and it’s not the prettiest thing to watch and play against sometimes, but it’s effective,” Bruins defender John-Michael Liles, who logged over 21 minutes in the loss, confirmed. “It’s a system that, you know, if you’re not getting through the neutral zone well, then pucks come right back at you, and we try to minimize the times that that happens, and it’s a tough system to play against for sure.”

The win gave the Sens their first ever season series sweep over the Bruins.

This and that

- It would be boring as all hell, but I can’t help but believe that the B’s best chance to advance to the second round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs would come with a first-round series against the Senators. What makes the Senators a good matchup for the Bruins, even on the heels of a winless season series against Ottawa, is the Sens’ lack of high-end offensive firepower. The Sens have a bunch of phenomenal roleplayers, but I think you’d take your chances with the Bruins figuring out Guy Boucher’s troubling neutral zone system in squeezing out a few one-goal wins versus trying to keep up with the run-and-gun and speedy offensive weapons of either the Maple Leafs or Capitals.

- Torey Krug’s night ended after just three shifts and less than three minutes. The Bruins did not have an update on Krug after the game other than the fact that it’s a lower-body injury, and CSNNE has reported that Krug was seen leaving the Garden with a knee brace and on crutches. Krug is in the midst of a career year, with eight goals and 51 points in 81 games played. Krug’s loss would probably mean that Colin Miller, the club’s second-best puckmover, would jump back into the mix.

- David Pastrnak should not have won the 2017 7th Player Award, really. If you didn’t see this production coming, it’s because you simply weren’t paying attention to his natural trajectory. Brandon Carlo, a first-year pro already logging No. 2 defenseman minutes, would have been my pick. Or perhaps the veteran Dominic Moore, who was a late season signing and fourth-line godsend.

Up next

It’s the regular season finale against the Capitals. Another potential playoff opponent of the Bruins, the Capitals have taken both prior head-to-head matchups, both of which were played in DC.