Bruins fight back, but come up short in 7-4 loss to Blue Jackets
By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
Things have gotten so bad for the Boston Bruins that they’re now experiencing pain not felt since late December.
On the wrong end of a 7-4 final against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the Bruins now have regulation losses in consecutive games for the first time since a two-game stretch from Dec. 23 to Dec. 27.
But the Black and Gold did not go down without a fight.
Down 5-1 just 28:09 into the first period, with Tuukka Rask given a mercy hook after allowing five goals on 24 shots thrown his way, the Bruins began their improbable climb out of hell with three goals in a 5:30 span.
The first came on a multi-hack effort from Brad Marchand, Chris Wagner provided the B’s with their third strike of the net, and it was Marchand that once again delivered, this time with a snipe through Sergei Bobrovsky with 1:23 left in the second period.
Boston failed to make good on their chance at a third-period comeback, though, as they took two third-period penalties, the second of which allowed Zach Werenski to beat Jaroslav Halak for the Blue Jackets’ sixth goal of the night.
Boone Jenner added the seventh goal of the night for the Blue Jackets, an empty-net goal scored with 47 seconds left in the period, to complete the hat trick and seal the deal on a 7-4 victory for Columbus.
Trent Frederic, recalled from the P-Bruins early Tuesday morning, finished the night with a minus-2 rating in just 4:34 of action. Both he and Peter Cehlarik (zero shots on goal in 8:15) were completely benched for the third period.
Torey Krug finished the night with a season-worst minus-5 rating.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Bruins, though, as they’ll pack their bags and head to Winnipeg for a Thursday night head-to-head with the Jets. The Bruins are just 3-5-1 in Winnipeg since the franchise relocated from Atlanta.
