B's Late Surge Falls Short in Nashville

NASHVILLE- The Bruins put forth quite the third-period charge to pull within one, but an early four-goal deficit was too much to overcome as Boston fell to the Nashville Predators, 5-3, at Bridgestone Arena on Monday night.
Boston dug itself a 4-0 hole four minutes in the second, before surging back with three straight goals from Charlie McAvoy, Zdeno Chara, and David Pastrnak. Chara and Pastrnak scored just 1:15 apart early in the third to make it 4-3 and force Nashville to call its time out.

But the Predators responded with a dagger on Filip Forsberg's breakaway tally just 34 seconds later to regain a two-goal lead and end Boston's thoughts of a miraculous comeback.
"The 4-0 lead is certainly sub-optimal at best and a death sentence in some cases as well," said David Backes. "We battle to make it 4-3 and that next shift after they take a timeout needs to be one that's still simple and still our game and we get it deep into their zone.
"They're able to get a puck just inside their line and send it all the way through the neutral zone for a breakaway and make it a two-goal lead again. That's probably a shift I'd like to have back, and we'd like to have back as a group, to simplify and go a little harder and make sure that we're not giving them any life after we got some momentum in the game."

More observations from Boston's loss in Nashville:
Khudobin's return a tough one: Following a three-game stretch with Tuukka Rask in goal, Anton Khudobin got the call against Nashville and received little support. The netminder made a sparkling post-to-post right-pad save on Roman Josi in the first period to keep Boston's deficit at 1-0, but was never able to find a groove.
Khudobin allowed four goals and was pulled after Kevin Fiala's tally at 4:10 of the second. Tuukka Rask came on in relief and made 10 saves on 11 shots.
"We left him out to dry completely. He didn't really have a chance on any of those," said Torey Krug. "Tuukks came in and slammed the door shut and gave us a shot of energy, good job by him."

The loss was Khudobin's first in regulation this season and snapped his four-game winning streak, as he fell to 7-1-2 on the year.
"When the game is not going your way, you have to change something," Khudobin said of being pulled. "I think we had really good chance to come back, the guys played really well…something wasn't enough. Tough game, tough game…I don't know what to say to be honest."
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said his decision to pull Khudobin had much more to do with the team's play than the performance of his goalie.
"Just one of those things that it wasn't going our way," said Cassidy. "Anton made a big save on a 2-on-1 in the first, got beat by a few…tried to get the guys attention as well."
Nashville made sure to capitalize: The Predators managed just 25 shots on goal, but made the most of their prime opportunities - which were aplenty. Nashville cashed in on Boston's breakdowns and turnovers, potting two breakaways, one each on Khudobin and Rask.
"When we made mistakes we allowed them the good ice uncontested. Some mistakes there that were big ones," said Cassidy. "We didn't have the layers when we gave them the good ice to recover, unfortunately.
"They buried their chances. I give them credit for that, but the thing we have to take away from this game is we played well enough to win for a lot of the game, but the breakdowns were too big."
Predators strike early and late: Nashville wasted little time getting on the board, as Craig Smith scored just 1:26 into the contest. Smith struck again with only 18 seconds remaining in the first to open up a 2-0 Nashville lead. Tallies from Nick Bonino (2:15) and Kevin Fiala (4:10) followed early in the second.
"We need to be starting on time," said Backes. "They scored less than two minutes into the game, second shift of the game. Even then it's a 1-0 game - we can find our game and start being harder on pucks, winning more of them. It took us halfway through and there were four in the back of our net."
Pushback was silver lining: Falling into a 4-0 hole rarely ends well, but Boston's ability to pull within a goal was impressive, nonetheless. Unfortunately for the B's, it was too little, too late.
"It was good pushback. It's tough to get down four goals to that team," said Brad Marchand. "But we did do a good job of pushing back and creating a game. At the end of the day we have to get points."

Pastrnak's chance could have changed the course: The first shift of the game was dominated by Boston's top line of Pastrnak, Marchand, and Patrice Bergeron. The trio hemmed the Predators in their own end and Pastrnak nearly made them pay when he took a pass from Marchand and dangled through his legs. But Pekka Rinne was there to deny Pastrnak's bid with a glove stop.
"It came in my mind, but at the moment I felt like that was what I should have done," said Pastrnak, whose third-period tally was his 14th of the season. "I didn't and they got the first four."
Backes picks up his 500th point: Backes notched his 500th career point with an assist on Chara's goal in the third period.
"It's a special thing," said Backes. "To be able to play multiple years to have 500 points, it's an honor and a testament to a lot of the guys that I've played with that make me look good. A win would have been much more sweet, hopefully I get 501 and a win on Thursday. That's going to be our focus."