"The tying goal - three guys had the puck that we trust to get the job done and we didn't get it out," said an exasperated Cassidy after the game.
"We were soft on it. I can't sugar coat it. That's what happened. If you have to ice it that's fine - we're not against it in those situations… But we didn't get it out. They kept it in and made a play. Once you get that many guys around the net, you start to get fatigued. They got one more [guy] than us and they found him."
In three-on-three overtime, the teams traded chances for the first minute, with Boston gaining the initial opportunities. A puck came loose in the Toronto zone, Pastrnak chased to it and, with one man to beat, attempted a spin move around the Leafs defender. However, the puck hit the defender's skate, and with Pastrnak down on the play, the Leafs raced forward into the Bruins zone with a three-on-two advantage. Marner gained the zone, dished it to his right to Jake Gardiner, who found Marleau in front of the crease for an easy tap-in winner.
"I didn't get there in time to try to poke it through him and I guess it hit his skate or something," recalled Pastrnak. "It was just an unlucky play… trying to make a one-on-one move."
"Yeah you hope he makes a play, gets it to the net or protects it," said Cassidy of the Pastrnak spin move. "I think it happened quick, I'm not sure he expected to be in that position and then all of a sudden he's there. It didn't work out for us and they made a play coming the other way. That is the nature of three-on-three."
Perhaps nobody in the Bruins locker room took the loss as hard as Khudobin, who made 30 saves on the night against the prolific forward group of the Leafs. Noting that Toronto scored some "pretty cool goals" - all of which were from point-blank range - the B's netminder was visibly upset that his team couldn't end it in regulation.
"It's a tough loss," said Khudobin. "I think overall we played really well. We did a lot of good things. Maybe we didn't score enough, maybe I didn't save enough, I don't know."
The silver lining in Friday's loss is that the Bruins won't have to wait long to make amends, as Toronto flies into Boston for the second game of a back-to-back Saturday night at TD Garden.
"We've got to bounce back," affirmed Marchand. "We've got to let it go - we've got another big game tomorrow and we need to be good."
"It's unfortunate we got only one point," added Pastrnak. "I think we deserved two, but we can't let it bring us down. We have a new game tomorrow and I think we need to start the same as today."