DETROIT — Sometimes, hockey makes no sense.
The Bruins, who came into the day in first place in the NHL, lost to the dead-last Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday, 3-1. And it wasn’t just one-time fluke. It was the B’s second loss of the season to Detroit this year and they have now lost five-straight to the rebuilding Wings. Playing on 21-and-a-half hours rest, the B’s had their legs but not their hands, outhsooting the Wings 40-20 (missing the net 18 times) and carrying much of the play, but could not solve goalie Jonathan Bernier more than once — at least legally. And the B’s had another goal called back on an offsides challenge, adding to the frustration.
While the B’s have had some stinkers against the Wings recently, it was the fickle nature of the sport that did the B’s in on Sunday as much as anything.
“This game, I thought we were the better team,” said coach Bruce Cassidy. “I thought we beat ourselves (Sunday). And we had a call go against us. Even the penalty we took (Jake DeBrusk’s trip that led to the game-winner), it’s ticky-tack, we’re chasing a guy. And, of course, that’s the one that ends up in our net. There were a lot of things that added up against us. Part of that is certainly on us. Listen, I’ll give Detroit credit for winning the hockey game, but I don’t think they were the better team.”
In another strange twist, the B’s lost this one on special teams. The Bruins came into the game in the top three in both power play and penalty killing while the Wings were bottom three in both categories. Yet the B’s could not capitalize on 5:24 of 5-on-4 time and 1:18 on a 5-on-3, while Andreas Athanasiou scored what turned out to the game-winner at 7:10 of the third period with DeBrusk in the box.
“We had a couple of chances on the 5-on-3 but we were forcing some plays (Sunday). I don’t even know if we had any looks at 5-on-4,” said David Pastrnak.
When the B’s could not score on the two-man advantage midway though the first period — Bernier stopped Brad Marchand three times from the right side of the net — it looked like it was going to be a tough day. And at 2:07 of the second period, the B’s went into chase mode. After Pastrnak turned the puck over just inside the Boston blueline, Brendan Perlini wheeled around Brandon Carlo and snapped a shot that Tuukka Rask, the surprise starter instead of an injured Jaroslav Halak, got a piece of but could not stop.
It appeared the B’s had tied it up at 12:33 of the second when Marchand deflected a Pastrnak shot past Bernier. But after a challenge from Wings’ coach Jeff Blashill and a lengthy, lengthy review, it was taken off the board because Marchand had re-entered the offensive zone before a changing Patrice Bergeron’s skate completely left the ice after Torey Krug fired the puck into the zone.
“Great for you guys to write how great that is for the NHL, we’re on NBC and all. How long did we wait,” said a clearly exasperated Cassidy. “To me, you know my feeling on that. Not a big fan of the procedure or the rule. But it came back — surprise, surprise — against us. And (Sunday) we could have used it.”
As frustrating as it may have been, Bergeron took responsibility for the mistake.
“It’s the rule, so it’s on me to get off the ice. It’s something we all know. I usually get off on the right side of the blue line. On that one, I wasn’t thinking the puck was far but then it was a great transition by us and I have to get off the ice,” said Bergeron.
The B’s did tie it briefly just 33 seconds into the third period. Pastrnak appeared to get away with a high stick on Luke Glendening before he broke in on an odd-man rush with Krug. Pastrnak froze Bernier and made a beautiful pass to Krug for a tap-in.
But Detroit forged ahead again after DeBrusk was called for tripping Trevor Daley along the left boards. With the B’s overloaded to the left side, Tyler Bertuzzi hit a wide open Athanasiou on the right side and he beat Rask high to the glove side.
The B’s pressured to tie it up and had their chances. The best opportunity came when Charlie McAvoy made a great feed to Chris Wagner, who had an open net but heeled his one-timer attempt wide.
Athanasiou then added an empty-netter with 29 seconds left to seal the game and snap the B’s six-game win streak.
“I thought for the most part we stuck to what we have been doing the last few games,” said Krug. “Even though it was a tough schedule, we skated well. Guys were holding on to the puck in the offensive zone, making a lot of plays. We had a lot of good looks. Tuuks came in and gave us a chance to win the game and shut the door pretty well. One shot on a power play is the difference and that’s where our guys in our room feel like we’ve got to make a difference there.”
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