Boston Bruins blow it in 5-4 OT loss versus Sabres
By Sam Minton
The Boston Bruins looked to have the game in the bag but lost in OT 5-4.
The Boston Bruins started off the game by once again creating a multi-goal lead. This time they were unable to keep it.
David Pastrnak kicked off the scoring for the Bruins. He made a great spin move, touch pass to Tim Schaller and was able to rush to the front of the net and muscle one past Robin Lehner for his 5th goal of the season. Schaller was also a big part of the play by forcing Lehner to give up a costly rebound.
Then the Bruins power play once again was successful Just two seconds in Brad Marchand got a gift as Buffalo Sabres defenseman Marco Scandella misplayed the puck and Marchy wristed one past Lehner.
Marchand and Pastrnak were the ones providing the offense tonight. Marchand ended the night with two goals to extend his season total to six and Pastrnak tallied two goals as well to match Marchand with six goals on the season.
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Even though the Bruins were still scoring goals they began to fall apart in the second period.
Jason Pominville scored the first goal of the game for the Buffalo Sabres in the second. The Bruins had an opportunity to clear the puck but were unable to get it out of the zone. Then later in the second, the kid from Boston University Jack Eichel scored his 4th goal of the season as Anton Khudobin was unable to secure a shot from Martin Scandella which allowed Eichel to capitalize on the rebound and drop the Sabres deficit to two goals.
Anton Khudobin Struggled
Khudobin was very shaky in tonight’s game. He did have 37 saves but you could never be confident in him being able to secure the puck. In the first period, he almost made a crucial error when skating with the puck behind the net that would’ve led to a Sabres goal if it wasn’t for the help of his defenseman.
Asked to describe Anton Khudobin's night, Bruce Cassidy went with "erratic." 37 saves and five goals allowed for the B's backup
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) October 22, 2017
He seems to have trouble controlling rebounds which has led to some goals early on this season. The Boston Bruins have a real problem between the pipes. Tuukka Rask has been struggling and suffered a concussion and Khudobin seemed to be having an alright start to the season but performed poorly tonight.
Khudobin was able to make a few impressive saves but he tends to make stupid mistakes at times. If Tuukka remains out for an extended period of time it is going to be tough on this team to have Khudobin or Zane McIntyre in net.
The Bruins also need to be able to protect a 3 goal lead. They say it is one of the most dangerous leads in the game and the Bruins proved that tonight. You can’t let up and that seemed to be what the Bruins did tonight.
Anton Khudobin: “We we’re playing a great game until we scored 4th goal. It looked like we thought it was gonna be easy game after that”
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) October 22, 2017
Torey Krug has also seemed to struggle on the defensive side of the puck. Krug was on the ice for the Sabres last three goals of the night and finished at -3 and now is -8 on the season.
Controversy?
The game ended in a little bit of controversy as it appeared that Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen ran into Khudobin and made contact just before Ryan O’Reilly scored the game-winning goal. As soon as the goal was scored Khudobin put his arms up pleading to the refs that he was interfered with.
After the game, Khudobin was still not pleased with the goal call standing.
"“Well you guys saw it. I think that’s interference. He crushed me, pretty much. I mean, we have the referees and it’s their call, but I felt like I didn’t have a chance to even move there. So maybe they said that our guy cross-checked him or whatever, but maybe that’s a penalty, not a goal.”"
No matter if it was interference or not the Bruins shouldn’t have even been playing in overtime. The Bruins used to have issues scoring and great goaltending and defense now it has changed. The Bruins need to step it up between the pipes and in the defensive zone.
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It’s early in the season but the Boston Bruins need to play much better. The Bruins have a long break as their next game is on Thursday. Hopefully, they realize that an effort like tonight can’t be repeated.