Bruins Open Trip With Loss to Vancouver

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Bruce Cassidy had started to see the signs over the last handful of games.
With the exception of their loss to Buffalo last weekend, however, the Bruins had largely overcome their building defensive shortcomings, winning back-to-back games - while scoring five goals in each contest - entering their meeting with Vancouver.

But as Tim Schaller put it, it was only a matter of time before those mistakes came back to bite the Bruins. And that time came on Saturday night.
The Bruins' struggles in their own end were thrust fully into the spotlight, as they opened their five-game road trip with a 6-1 loss to the Canucks at Rogers Arena.
"Up there in Jersey [last Sunday] night, we were not good," said Cassidy. "We gave up a lot of chances, but [Anton Khudobin] covered up for a lot of them and we got some breaks at the other end… it's crept into our game. We saw it with Buffalo, we were loose giving up odd-man rushes.
"We've got to nip it in the bud. And we'll address it again with the guys. But at some point, it falls on the group to say enough is enough. Hopefully that's Monday afternoon [against Calgary]."

The Bruins were down and out early against their former Stanley Cup Final foes, with old friend Loui Eriksson opening the scoring just two minutes in. The tally set the tone for a demoralizing first period, which ended with Boston down, 4-0.
"I look at the goals, and they got there. They wanted to get there and we didn't prevent them from getting there," said Cassidy. "We got sloppy at times, for sure. You could see it with our puck play down below the goal line at times, goalie-D exchanges. We've been better from our blue line back a lot of nights. Tonight we were sloppy and we paid the price."
Tuukka Rask was pulled in favor of Khudobin after the opening period, during which he allowed four goals on eight shots, making for an uncharacteristically quick evening for the league's best goaltender over the last three months.
"A lot of things go wrong when you [get down] 4-0, but I should have stopped a couple more pucks…definitely wasn't at my sharpest. Move on and have a better one next time," said Rask, who has lost just twice in regulation over his last 24 starts.
"There was a lot rushes and plays in our own zone, which is not typical for us. We got over 40 shots on net, just couldn't score. We had clear looks and obviously the game was 4-0, 5-0 at that point. Gotta look in the mirror and be better."

The Bruins did generate plenty of possession and offensive zone play, landing 45 shots on Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson, as well as hitting two posts in the first period. But Boston failed to capitalize on their opportunities and didn't find the back of the net until the 2:57 mark of the third period, when Schaller one-timed a Torey Krug feed by Nilsson to make it 5-1.
"The second and third we were doing well getting pucks to the net," said Schaller, whose tally was his 10th of the season. "Puck wasn't bouncing our way, but when you have a start like that it's tough to come back no matter what the lead is…this whole season we've been comfortable with coming back from other teams scoring first, but I think it was only a matter of time before it bites us in the butt."
Boston had a subsequent power play to try to cut the deficit to three early in the third, but could not cash in before Eriksson delivered the final dagger with his second of the game with 8:07 to go.
"It was moments of brilliance and moments of, 'Who is this team out here' and what-are-we-doing type of plays," said David Backes. "You're gonna have plays that are not great, but when the next one is another not great one and we're not picking each other up or playing for the collective whole then it tends to bite you in the rear end.
"We did that quite a few times. On the other side of things, had quite a few looks and hit a few posts. Other ones where we just didn't put it through the back of the net."

The loss also ended the Bruins' 13-game road points streak. Boston's last loss in regulation away from TD Garden was on Dec. 4 in Nashville.
"It was one of those nights you've got to give them credit, they attacked the net and we allowed it," said Cassidy. "We just weren't hard enough in general. That's been part of our identity for a long time where we have been hard. Teams are a little reticent to get there lately. We've just got to up our urgency in those areas."

Treading Lightly?

The loss to Vancouver was Boston's second in its last four games, with the other coming against Buffalo last Saturday. Both teams entered their games with the Bruins in last place in their respective divisions. Are the B's perhaps overlooking some lesser opponents?
"You come into a rink, I don't know if we were looking at the standings or what and thinking we had an easy night, but kind of similar to Buffalo where I think we were maybe 70-75 percent of our game," said Backes. "But they were probably seeing us coming in and a good team - they played an in-your-face, tight-checking game."

Carlo Drops 'Em

It was not the most pleasant of evenings for Brandon Carlo, who finished the night a minus-4. After a tough first period, during which the second-year blue liner was on the ice for three goals against, he responded early in the second by dropping the gloves with Canucks forward Darren Archibald following a tussle along the boards.
"Just showing that I care there in that moment," said Carlo. "Tough day at work and I wanted to contribute in some way and try to maybe even give a little spark there. Overall, just went out there and wanted to contribute in some way tonight."