Early Defensive Lapses Cost Bruins in Calgary

CALGARY, Alberta - The Bruins' four-game road trip did not get off to the smoothest start on Wednesday night.
Boston surrendered three first-period goals, and despite some pushback over the final two frames, saw its four-game win streak come to an end with a 5-2 setback to the Calgary Flames.

"Wasn't close to being what we wanted," said Patrice Bergeron, who tallied a goal and an assist in the Bruins' second loss of the season. "Too many turnovers, too many odd-man rushes. We left our goalie out to dry. Could have been worse. Definitely a terrible start, but when that happens it's hard to come back from."

Despite a number of strong stops by Tuukka Rask (24 saves) to keep them in it, the Bruins could not overcome some glaring defensive deficiencies. Calgary came with wave after wave through the neutral zone, wreaking havoc with their speed en route to their three-goal first, which included strikes from Johnny Gaudreau and rookie Juuso Valimaki just 48 seconds apart late in the frame.
"I thought a lot of it was our puck placement," said coach Bruce Cassidy. "They got out of their end in a hurry and their goalie started their breakout and their D were coming in waves. I thought that was our biggest problem in the first period.
"We were able to keep some possession with the puck, we generated offense. It was just too much of them coming at us and us having to defend a lot of speed in numbers.
"I thought zone entries is what led to a lot of their chances and goals. We did not defend the blue line well enough. They had numbers. We eventually corrected that, but it was too late."
More notes and observations from the loss to the Flames:

Fighting Back

Despite falling behind, 3-0, the Bruins did not lay down. Just over a minute after Valimaki's tally, Boston struck for what appeared to be its first goal of the night on a one-timer from David Pastrnak. But the Flames challenged for offside and the goal was overturned.
"I like that we got down 3-0 and we still played, got ourselves back in the game, had a goal disallowed that really had not effect on the play, but it was offside, so that hurt," said Cassidy.
The Bruins eventually got on the board on Bergeron's sixth of the season - a spin-o-rama from the slot off a feed from David Krejci - 2:40 into the second, but Calgary responded just 52 seconds later on Michael Frolik's second of the game to make it 4-1.

Brad Marchand later pulled the Bruins back within two at 13:45 of the second, providing a sliver of hope that they might rekindle their late-game magic from a season ago. But a squandered 5-on-3 - which lasted 58 seconds - to begin the third period put a damper on any comeback thoughts.
"You don't capitalize at the end of the second on the power play on a nice net-front play," said Cassidy, whose team went 0-for-4 on the man advantage. "Five-on-three we hit a pipe and don't score. It's a different game if we score those goals. I like the fact that we were resilient in that aspect."
Boston did find its defensive game a bit as the game wore on, allowing just 15 shots over the last two periods, with Rask stopping 13 of the final 14 shots he faced.
"I think the third was better…was probably our best period all around," said Rask, who was peppered with 14 shots in the first period. "Not every night is perfect and some nights it's not easy to find you game and you try to battle and get something going. We hung in there, but never got close enough."

Balancing Act

To no one's surprise, the Bruins once again got plenty of production from their first line, as both Bergeron (goal, assist) and Marchand found the back of the net. And while Boston's secondary scoring started to emerge during the team's recent 3-0 homestand, consistency throughout the lineup is still a work in progress.
"We know we have a line that's going to deliver that every night," said Cassidy. "We went home and we did get some, I thought, much better balance. You hope that continues - it didn't tonight.
"It's a valid question to ask [about the lack of secondary scoring]. Until it's there on a regular basis, then we're gonna have to address it. I'm more concerned tonight that we took ourselves out of the game by allowing goals.
"I thought our offense at the end of the day came around enough. But we didn't defend well enough."
With his goal and assist, Bergeron now has 13 points through five games. Marchand, meanwhile, picked up his second goal of the season to go along with nine assists.

On to Edmonton

As was the case after their Opening Night loss to Washington, the Bruins will have the opportunity to bounce right back as they travel to Edmonton on Thursday night for the second end of the back-to-back. Boston hosted the Connor McDavid-led Oilers a week ago - 4-1 victory that included goals from David Pastrnak, Marchand, Joakim Nordstrom, and Bergeron.
"Of course, I guess that's the bright side is you can look forward and try to turn the page and be right back at it tomorrow," said Bergeron. "We're facing a really good team that's got a lot of skill and speed. We know that if we don't correct what we just talked about, tomorrow's gonna be a long game."
Jaroslav Halak is expected to get the start between the pipes against the Oilers, who have won two straight since their loss to the Bruins at TD Garden.