Bruins fall apart in second period, drop 5-1 defeat to Devils
The Boston Bruins could not build off the momentum of their comeback win over the Sharks on Monday, dropping a 5-1 decision to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday at Prudential Center.
Morgan Geekie scored the lone goal for Boston, while goaltender Jeremy Swayman stopped just 25-of-29 shots (.862) on the night. Swayman exited the game after two periods, leaving open the possibility that he starts for a second night in a row on Thursday against the Ottawa Senators. The Devils out-shot the B’s 35-23 in the game, marking the seventh such occurrence in Boston’s last eight games. The Bruins are 3-3-2 in that span.
With the loss, the Bruins dropped to 23-20-6 on the season. The Senators and Montreal Canadiens are both idle Wednesday night, keeping themselves and the Bruins locked in a three-way tie with 52 points each. Ottawa and Montreal both hold the tiebreaker over Boston with fewer games played.
The Bruins jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first period, thanks to some strong complementary hockey by the red-hot line of Geekie, Pavel Zacha, and David Pastrnak. Zacha forced a turnover on an attempted breakout to get the play started, then slipped the puck to Pastrnak, who made a scintillating cross-ice pass to Geekie, who finished for his 12th goal of the season.
Geekie is up to 11 goals and 19 points in 28 games since Joe Sacco took over as interim head coach.
The B’s would escape the first period without allowing a goal, despite being out-shot 12-5. Unfortunately, it would be the second period when New Jersey broke the dam – and poured it on Swayman and the B’s defense.
The Devils’ Dawson Mercer tied the game 1-1 just 1:24 into the second, taking advantage of a bouncing puck in the slot and whacking it through traffic for his 11th goal of the season. Their second goal came during a power play, off a goaltender interference penalty called against the Bruins’ Justin Brazeau after a collision with Jacob Markstrom. The Devils netminder exited the game due to an undisclosed injury after the play.
New Jersey promptly cashed in on the Brazeau penalty, as former Bruin Dougie Hamilton blasted a one-timer from the faceoff circle to give the Devils a 2-1 lead.
The Devils then quickly expanded their lead from 2-1 to 4-1 with two goals in 12 seconds, first off the stick of Stefan Noesen right at the doorstep. Then, Mercer scored his second of the game after all Bruins lost him on defense, then finished a tic-tac-toe one-timer off a turnover behind the net.
Hamilton added his second of the game, this time against backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, in the third period to make it 5-1. That would be the final score.
Up Next: The Bruins have a quick turnaround, as they head back home for a matchup against the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden on Thursday night. It will be interesting to see if Swayman gets the start after resting for the third period in New Jersey.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.
