BOSTON \u2013 If an early-season matchup of two Eastern Conference powers proved anything Thursday, it\u2019s that everyone should be rooting for the Bruins and Lightning to face each other in a long, drawn-out series.<\/p>\n
Boston’s 4-3 shootout loss to Tampa Bay at TD Garden gave an October glimpse into the great drama that the hockey world would love to see in May. Even Bruce Cassidy acknowledged as much on Wednesday when he noted that this week\u2019s gauntlet of Tampa Bay, Toronto (Saturday) and Toronto (next Tuesday) would prove to be an early season measuring stick of sorts.<\/p>\n
“There\u2019s parts of the game that were good,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We started defending better as the game went on, not good enough in the first period. Leaky through the middle of the ice off the rush, stuff that we address, we\u2019ll see that Saturday and Tuesday with Toronto. Players are going to have to start identifying that, these strengths, they happened too often tonight, they got through the middle.”<\/p>\n
As measuring sticks go, Thursday night\u2019s game against the defending Presidents\u2019 Trophy winner was definitely a mixed bag for the men in black and gold.<\/p>\n
But still it carried a fair amount of significance. Tampa Bay, with their 128 points, was the team everyone said the Bruins were lucky to have avoided in the playoffs last spring, after their shocking four-game exit at the hands of Columbus.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/youtu.be\/kd3B0a7Zz9A<\/a><\/p>\n The Bruins started this season by doing just enough things right to win five of their first six games. And there\u2019s nothing wrong with that at all. But Thursday night felt like a super-charged bolt of energy fired into an otherwise routine October regular season game.<\/p>\n The Bruins played the contest with an injured David Krejci up in the press box alongside David Backes and Steven Kampfer. Charlie Coyle moved up to the second line with Jake DeBrusk and Brett Ritchie while Par Lindholm centered Danton Heinen and Karson Kuhlman.<\/p>\n The Bruins hadn\u2019t faced much of a test in New Jersey and Anaheim in their first two home games, jumping out quickly against both, surviving shaky second periods and posting wins each time.<\/p>\n They opened the season with a stiff four-game road trip through Dallas, Arizona, Vegas and Colorado. They passed that test with three wins and six out of a possible eight points.<\/p>\n They cruised to routine wins over the Devils and Ducks, with the win over the Ducks carrying a bit more weight with Anaheim\u2019s hot start to the season. Of course, the Bruins didn\u2019t win the game as much as David Pastrnak did with his four-goal spree, providing all of the offense in the 4-2 victory.<\/p>\n But that win cost the Bruins the services of veteran second-line center David Krejci, who left in the second period.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s game had a similar start with the Bruins buzzing Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, including a left-post ringer off the stick of Brad Marchand. That was followed up moments later by Pastrnak\u2019s fifth straight goal over two games for the Bruins and a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n Unlike the games against the Devils and the Ducks, the opposition didn\u2019t lie down meekly. Despite a rather mundane 3-2-1 start to the season, Tampa Bay showed the pedigree of a team that won a franchise record 62 games a season ago. They steadily put pressure on the Bruins, causing some sloppiness and turnovers. Marchand had three of Boston\u2019s eight turnovers in the first period and five of his team\u2019s 11 through two periods.<\/p>\n https:\/\/youtu.be\/BVtyqr365Ns<\/a><\/p>\n The Lightning had the speed to exploit these mistakes that the Devils and Ducks lacked. How fast? With eight seconds left, Victor Hedman took the puck from behind his net, fed Yanni Gourde in front of the Tampa Bay bench who found a sprinting Brayden Point at full stride and beat Rask over the left shoulder to tie the game and deflate TD Garden at the first intermission. The Bruins relaxed at the wrong time.<\/p>\n “Yeah, that\u2019s a fair word. Pick your word, I mean, when you\u2019re in the last bit of the period, you\u2019ve got to be cognizant of, nobody\u2019s behind you,” Cassidy told me. “It\u2019s just like a Hail Mary, it just can\u2019t happen. We weren\u2019t, and it\u2019s the wrong guy.”<\/p>\n “Right now, our team IQ is a little bit low,” said Torey Krug, in a clear acknowledgement that they’re making some mistakes that aren’t acceptable.<\/p>\n Poor clock awareness by Boston as Point capitalizes#NHLBruins<\/a>– 1#GoBolts<\/a>– 1 pic.twitter.com\/8nqwtvj0dq<\/a><\/p>\n\n