Even in the desert, the Bruins continued to take on more water Tuesday night.

In Arizona on the second leg of a back-to-back that kicked off with a Monday night shootout loss to the Avalanche, the already-undermanned Bruins made it back-to-back losses in the extra session to kick off their four-game road swing, this time with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Coyotes at Mullett Arena.

For Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, the Bruins’ inability to ‘start on time’ was once again a source of frustration. Montgomery also admitted that he ‘had to’ shorten the bench to get the Bruins to play their game in the third period and force an overtime after defenseman Mason Lohrei’s slip opened the door to the go-ahead goal for the Coyotes in the opening moments of the third period.

• But as frustrating as the end result may have been for the Bruins, the focus immediately shifted to the in-game losses for the Bruins, with both center Matt Poitras and goaltender Linus Ullmark knocked out of this game with injuries. For Poitras, who was injured in an attempted hit on the Coyotes’ Sean Durzi, it’s an upper-body injury. Ullmark’s injury, meanwhile, which occurred when the 6-foot-5 when into a split on an attempted glove save, has been called a lower-body injury. Montgomery did not have details beyond that on either player when he spoke with the media following the loss.

  That makes it three injuries in the last 100 minutes of hockey or so for the Bruins, too, with Poitras and Ullmark joining defenseman Brandon Carlo on the shelf.

  Talk about a nightmarish trip out of the gate.

  Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars from a loss in Arizona…

• No. 3 Star: Clayton Keller

  

  Jan 9, 2024; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Coyotes right wing Clayton Keller (9) celebrates with defenseman Sean Durzi (50) after scoring a goal in the second period against the Boston Bruins at Mullett Arena. (Matt Kartozian/USA TODAY Sports)

• With just one goal and an assist, it may seem like a relatively good but not great stat line, but this was an excellent game from the Coyotes’ Clayton Keller.

  Keller started his night with an impressive power-play goal that saw him gain inside ice and bury a second-chance look through Linus Ullmark. That goal brought the Coyotes to life and gave them something to show for their efforts to that point, which was certainly a must given the way they had controlled the play despite their deficit. Had that power-play fallen by the wayside without a goal, shift-to-shift momentum suggests that the Bruins would’ve been in a prime position to put the Coyotes away early.

  Keller to the net 🔥 pic.twitter.com/fiMyFtwqx8

  — PHNX Coyotes (@PHNX_Coyotes) January 10, 2024

  But it was on Keller’s overtime goal where he ultimately seemed to make his greatest impact.

  Credited with the primary assist on Nick Schmaltz’s game-winning goal, Keller did more than feed Schmaltz the puck if you were watching closely. As soon as Keller fed the puck to Schmaltz and recognized that he was going to take it to the net, Keller moved to the high-danger area and actually ran a slight pick on the Bruins’ David Pastrnak, effectively taking No. 88 out of the play and giving Schmaltz more room to operate for the shot and goal on a cold Jeremy Swayman. That’s some savvy veteran kind of stuff.

  🐺 YOTES WIN 🐺
  
  Nick Schmaltz goes off the post and in for the @Energizer overtime winner! pic.twitter.com/DQVjvFnmZ4

  — NHL (@NHL) January 10, 2024

  Keller, who played his college hockey at Boston University, now has four goals and nine points in 12 career head-to-heads against the Bruins.

• No. 2 Star: Connor Ingram

  

  TEMPE, ARIZONA – DECEMBER 07: Goaltender Connor Ingram #39 of the Arizona Coyotes in action during the NHL game at Mullett Arena on December 07, 2023 in Tempe, Arizona. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

• On the board with 30 saves on 33 shots faced by the night’s end, Arizona netminder Connor Ingram saved some of his best work for late in this contest.

  Namely with a flurry of stops with two and a half minutes remaining in a 3-3 game, with a big-time stop on Brad Marchand’s bid to the left of Ingram’s crease, and then another save on Charlie Coyle. (Coyle, who prematurely raised his stick in celebration, was downright stunned by the save.)

  Going to be thinking about these jaw-dropping Connor Ingram (@CBIngram1) saves for a LOOOONG time. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/5hqG2iApu4

  — NHL (@NHL) January 10, 2024

  Ingram wasn’t done there, though, as he also robbed Pastrnak on an overtime breakaway look.

  Ingram shuts down Pastrnak's breakaway try in OT#Yotes | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/XcTX5oj82y

  — Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 10, 2024

• No. 1 Star: Linus Ullmark

  

  Jan 9, 2024; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) makes a save on Arizona Coyotes left wing Lawson Crouse (67) in the third period at Mullett Arena. (Matt Kartozian/USA TODAY Sports)

• No, Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark did not get the win in this game.

  In fact, he didn’t even finish the game.

  But for almost 63 minutes, Ullmark bailed the Bruins out again and again and again.

  Taken out of the game due to injury with 2:20 remaining in the overtime, Ullmark finished this game with 32 saves on 35 shots faced, and made more than a few “timely saves.” From his save on a 2-on-1 shorthanded bid in regulation to a final minute of regulation in a 3-3 game that was spent almost entirely in the Boston to end to an overtime glove save on Keller, Ullmark hung in there.

  Per Natural Stat Trick, Ullmark faced 14 high-danger shots during all-situation play, and turned aside all but two of them. The Bruins, as a team, surrendered 21 high-danger chances throughout the night, which nearly matched the season-high they allowed in that ugly loss in New York back in November.

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