Down by three goals midway through the second period of play against the Blues, the Bruins appeared to find life when an odd bounce up and into the St. Louis net put the Bruins on the board behind Justin Brazeau‘s second goal of the season.
But as an eagle-eyed St. Louis assistant called down for the club to challenge the play, it was deemed that the Bruins were offside, and the goal was wiped off the board. Now, in the grand scheme of things, it meant little to nothing in a game that the Bruins dropped by a 5-1 final at TD Garden. But it was the perfect encapsulation of a night where the Black and Gold simply struggled to get any sort of positive momentum going their way, and at times, out of their own way.
“You have nights like this where the puck doesn’t go your way and you don’t have puck luck,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery. “Just… it happens. There’s gonna be outliers.”
Mar 11, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) scores a goal on a slap shot during the third period against the St. Louis Blues at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)
The only bit of good news for the Bruins came in the third period of this contest, and off the stick of David Pastrnak, who put the Bruins on the board with his 41st goal of the year, scored 1:48 into the third period.
Pasta gets the Bruins on the board 🍝 pic.twitter.com/fqwyzmuvWM
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 12, 2024The Bruins had some tremendous jump from there, and were inches away from a second, third, and fourth goal along their push, but they weren’t unable to beat the Blues’ Joel Hofer (36 saves) for that second strike before an empty-net goal with 8:33 left in the game turned the lights out on the B’s in this one.
In the Boston goal, Jeremy Swayman took the loss with four goals on 21 shots faced. The defeat ended what was a three-game win streak for the 25-year-old, and was actually Swayman’s first regulation loss since Feb. 15 against the Kraken.
