Deflating Second Period Does in B's

ANAHEIM, Calif. - There was not much more the Bruins could have done to assert their dominance over the Ducks during the second period on Wednesday night.
Following a sluggish opening 20 minutes, Boston surged in the middle frame and tied the game on a Danton Heinen tally, which at the time opened up a 12-0 shot advantage for the period. It appeared that the Bruins were well on their way to yanking away control of the game.

But when the clock hit zero on the second, the Bruins somehow found themselves down by a pair. Despite being outshot, 15-3, during the frame, the Ducks capitalized with two goals, taking advantage of some fortuitous bounces en route to a 4-2 victory at the Honda Center. It was Boston's fourth consecutive loss.
"It's their home ice and home-ice bounces were going their way," said Jake DeBrusk. "I thought we had a really good second overall as a team, and I thought that the shots we were generating, guys were going to the net and we were doing the right thing. Just that there were a couple plays there where they capitalized. Good on them."

After Heinen knotted the score with nifty backhander over a sprawling John Gibson at the 8:38 mark, Boston continued to assert a strong offensive attack. But a fluky bounce on what was only Anaheim's second shot of the period proved to be a demoralizing blow.
Josh Manson picked up a loose puck by the right faceoff dot and threw a prayer toward the Boston net. The puck deflected off of Zdeno Chara's foot at the top of the crease and trickled by Tuukka Rask for a 2-1 Anaheim advantage with 5:36 remaining in the period.
"It's tough to see," said Heinen. "We were hanging on to pucks and getting looks. Just wasn't going in and then they go back and get a couple of bounces and we're down."
As deflating as Mason's tally was, the Bruins had their hopes dashed even further when Anaheim struck again with just 47 seconds to go in the second. The Ducks pushed with a strong rush up the ice with Antoine Vermette centering one to Nick Ritchie, who was charging hard to the net and tipped one by Rask to make it 3-1.
"They were all kind of broken plays and deflections," said Rask. "They were all frustrating. We played a decent second and we're down by two so it was kind of unexpected."

Anaheim wasted little time delivering the final dagger as Corey Perry took advantage of a turnover in the Bruins end and wristed one towards the net with the puck banking off of Derek Grant in front to extend the Ducks' lead to 4-1 just 2:35 into the third.
"Part of me knew that the guys would be a little bit deflated," said Cassidy. "We're a young group, we're a fragile group right now. We're not winning a lot of hockey games, so it's gonna have an effect, but you've got to play through it. Need to be better if we're going to get back into the game."
More observations from the loss loss in Anaheim:

DeBrusk Returns

After sitting out as a healthy scratch against Toronto on Saturday, Jake DeBrusk was back in the lineup and performed well, notching assists on both of Boston's goals while posting a plus-2 rating in just over 15 minutes of ice time.
"I felt good. Felt a little rusty at times. I think I got better as the game went along," said DeBrusk. "I pride myself on being ready and I knew I was gonna be ready tonight. I just wanted to do anything I could to help the team win. Unfortunately that wasn't the case tonight."

Acciari Pots One

Noel Acciari grabbed his first goal of the year when he followed a rebound and tumbled over Gibson with 22 seconds to play. Acciari, who was away from the team for two days to attend the services of his friend and former teammate Drew Brown, landed an eye-popping - and game-high - 10 hits in 16 minutes, 42 seconds of ice time.

Krug Leaves

Torey Krug left the game late in the third period and did not return. There was no update on his condition following the game.
"I was just told he was leaving and wouldn't be back," said Cassidy. "I don't know if it's serious or not. I honestly don't know."