Devils Comeback Falls Short in 5-3 Loss to Bruins | GAME STORY

The Devils erased deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, but it wasn't enough, eventually falling, 5-3, to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden Tuesday night.
New Jersey received goals from Nathan Bastian, Tomas Tatar and Damon Severson.
Boston's goals came from Curtis Lazar, Oskar Steen, Trent Frederic, David Pastrnak and Brandon Carlo.
The Devils three-game winning streak is over.
"We were six, seven minutes away from at least getting a point and it came down to a mistake," assistant coach Alain Nasreddine said. "I'm sure Blackwood would like to have one or two back. But the game was 3-3. It was tied. It ended up with a mistake that we've talked about all game, protecting our net-front. It ended up costing us the game."

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The Devils face the Columbus Blue Jackets in a home-and-home series starting Thursday night at Prudential Center. The game can be seen on MSG+ and heard on the Devils Hockey Network, including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com. Puck drop is 7:08 p.m. ET.
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Here are some observations from the game...
- On a night when the Devils were extremely hobbled in the health department, they needed their goaltender to be at his best. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Mackenzie Blackwood on this evening. He surrendered three goals, all of which he would certainly want back.

"A couple of those I thought were bad breaks, bad bounces," Blackwood said, "like the one off my shoulder into the net or the other one from behind the line. The first is on me. I have to be sharper on that. I overplayed that. I don't think I've ever had that many fluky goals go in in one game."

He was fooled by Lazar on a 2-on-1 rush. Blackwood anticipated a cross-ice pass, but instead Lazar sent a changeup toward the net that slid under the pads of Blackwood. On the second goal, the puck popped on top of the netting where Steen tapped it into the air. The puck came down and hit Blackwood, sliding into the goal. With an airborne puck, Blackwood needed to be inside his net and on the goal line to prevent the exact scenario that played out. On the third goal, Frederic scored by banking the puck off Blackwood from below the goal line. Blackwood wasn't completely flushed against his post, and Frederic somehow found that small hole.

"You have to have confidence in your game," he said. "I believe in myself. I believe in what I can do. A couple goals don't define who I am and what I do. I haven't been getting the results I want to be getting. There's peaks and valleys throughout a season. I just have to keep riding it out and doing the right things, working hard and I'll come out of it."

- Damon Severson has been the Devils best defenseman over the past few weeks, consistently logging over 26 minutes of ice time, and sometimes as much as 29:52 at Washington. And he's getting it done at both ends of the ice.

Severson chipped in his fifth goal of the season after exiting the penalty box. He received a perfect flip pass from Michael McLeod to lead to a breakaway. Severson deked and buried in the forehand. He has two goals and five points in the past three games.

- The Devils began the game under tough circumstances. Overnight, they lost four players from the lineup in captain Nico Hischier (lower-body), defenseman Dougie Hamiton (broken jaw) and forwards Yegor Sharangovich and Pavel Zacha (COVID-19 protocol). The timing couldn't have been worse considering Hischier (five-game scoring streak, 3G-3A) and Sharangovich (four-game scoring streak, 3G-2A) were both on hot streaks and Hamilton is the team's best offensive defenseman.

"If you lose Dougie, Nico, Shara - he's playing great - Pavel, you lost four big names before the game. We missed them. It's an opportunity for us to step in and do it for each other."

During the game, the Devils lost the services of Andreas Johnsson and Dawson Mercer briefly, both would return, after each was struck in the face by pucks. The Devils have had four players (Hamilton, Jonas Siegenthaler, Johnsson, Mercer) in the past two games get hit in the face with pucks. Maybe it's time to invest in some full cages. Just a thought.

"We were all proud of the effort we put in," Nasreddine said, "especially with the situation of losing a few guys. Guys that came in had more responsibility than usual. I felt everybody came to play."

- The second period featured a flurry of goal scoring. Three goals were scored in a 2:08-minute span in the opening 3:05 of the period. The clubs traded goal with quick responses. Bastian tied the game, 1-1, 57 seconds into the frame. Steen responded by reclaiming the lead for Boston, 2-1, 20 seconds later. Then Tatar evened things up, 2-2, 1:48 later. It was a wild few minutes of hockey. - Devils forward Tomas Tatar said in the morning that he felt "useless" watching the team on TV and not being able to contribute. In his first game back since missing three due to COVID-19, Tatar was useful, and contributed.

Tatar scored his seventh goal of the season after finding a rebound in the slot and shooting a blind backhand at the cage, which found its way in.

"I tried to go to the net for guys. I got a fortunate bounce. I just tried to place it the opposite way. I was fortunate enough to put it in."

- The lesson from Tatar's goal = there are no bad shots. On the play, Jack Hughes was in the low circle and at a bad angle. He sent a soft backhand toward the goal. It was a low-quality chance from a bad angle. But goaltender Linus Ullmark kicked out a big rebound. Tatar also just threw the puck toward the net without trying to pick a spot. And it found its way in. Pucks on net. Pucks on net.

"I noticed we've started doing that a lot … We've talked about how important it is to drive to the net and be around the net. We found ourselves two goals there."

- Nathan Bastian quickly went from goat to hero in a matter of seconds. In the second period, he failed to gain the red line and iced a puck. His line had already been on the ice for some time and would have to remain. Worse, they lost the subsequent defensive zone draw. Things could have gone south quickly.

However, Bastian picked off a Brandon Carlo cross-ice pass at the blue line and darted in for a breakaway. Nothing fancy. Bastian went five-hole to notch his fifth goal of the season.