Boston Bruins: Late start proves costly in game 2

The Boston Bruins came out flat on Monday night. They made a comeback, but some questionable calls led to the Bruins 4-2 loss.

You can’t win every game by 4 goals. The Boston Bruins were coming off a great win. They looked like the far superior team and had the series lead, but on Monday night a completely different Bruins squad showed up.

The Boston Bruins came out flat and the Tampa Bay Lightning took advantage. Some goals and a few questionable calls later the Lightning were leaving the ice with the series all tied up.

I don’t want to make excuses

But the Refs were absolute trash on Monday night. The standard for the night was set when Torey Krug got sent away for a ticky-tack slashing call. This would lead to a Lightning goal. Now based on that standard there is no reason on this planet that explains why Brad Marchand didn’t cause a penalty on his breakaway in the third.

More from Chowder and Champions

Marchand had a clear view of the net but got slashed on his hands. Now you can see after the game Marchand wasn’t pleased with the call.

"“That’s a play that they called earlier in the game, and what they’ve called all year…slash up on the hands. That’s an automatic penalty shot, let alone a penalty. A tough one there, but we had some chances”"

Then there was the phantom David Pastrnak high stick. Coming off of a faceoff Lightning defender Victor Hedman went down like he got shot by a sniper. The call was a double-minor on Pastrnak. The replay would show that it was actually Hedman’s stick that hit the defender in the face.

I understand things happen fast, but this is the playoffs and the referees so far in this series have been horrible.

I have to give credit to the NBC crew they all realized how terrible the calls were. For once in my life, me and Pierre McGuire agreed on something.

The babyface killer strikes

Charlie McAvoy hasn’t had the best postseason. Then again expectations were sky high after his great rookie playoff performance. McAvoy has been dealing with a knee injury, but he appears to be back to his old self. He scored his 1st playoff goal of the year on a great play.

Patrice Bergeron made a great pass to the rookie who was able to blow the puck by Andrei Vasilevskiy. McAvoy appears to be hitting his stride at just the right time. The Bruins need him to perform well if they want to make a run for the Stanley Cup.

The Bruins couldn’t recover

The Boston Bruins had an awful start to the game. They came out flatter than a six-month-old can of Coke. The Lightning were setting the pace of the game and were much more physical.

The Bruins thrive off of laying people out and getting into scrums. The Lightning took that away from them. If it wasn’t for some spectacular play by Tuukka Rask the score very well could have been 4-0 halfway through the first period.

The Bruins can’t have a start like they had on Monday for the rest of the playoffs. It is nearly impossible to win when you play like that.

They need to come out of the gate flying around the ice and making the boards rattle. They need to dictate the pace of the game and not the other way around. When the Bruins play their game they are one of the best teams in the NHL.

The Bruins return to Boston with the series tied. This series could be completely different by the time they leave. If the Bruins can leave with a 3-1 lead they should be in good shape to close out the series. If the series is tied up once again we may be in for another long series.

Next: 3 keys to trouncing Tampa Bay in game 2

The Boston Bruins will have to wait till Wednesday to turn their game around and regain control of the series.

Home/Boston Bruins