Boston Bruins Give Up Late Goal, Fall 3-2 To Lightning

The first two games for the Boston Bruins in the Toronto bubble could best be described as sleepy. The Bruins lost 4-1 in both their exhibition tilt against the Columbus Blue Jackets and their round-robin opener against the Philadelphia Flyers. On Wednesday, it was more of the same for the Bruins through the first period. The final 40 minutes? A different story. It still wasn’t enough.

Yanni Gourde gained entry into the Boston Bruins zone and fired a shot that Tuukka Rask kicked aside. Rask, however, surrendered a big rebound that Tyler Jonson pounced on and buried. The goal, scored at 18:33, was a heart-breaker in a 3-2 loss.

The Lightning capitalized on a slow Bruins start. They jumped out to a two-goal lead within the game’s first 10:32. Brayden Point opened the scoring with his first of the round-robin at 7:33. Point trailed on a play where Ondrej Palat found Nikita Kucherov at the side of the goal. Kucherov’s initial shot was denied by Rask, but Point followed up and buried a rebound to open the scoring.

2:59 later, it was Alex Killorn who extended the lead. Victor Hedman teed up a one-timer off of a Johnson pass that the Harvard product deflected by Rask.

The Bruins began their push in the waning minutes of the first period. Torey Krug didn’t like a hit Blake Coleman had on Brandon Carlo. The veteran defenseman dropped the gloves with Coleman, and seemed to ignite his teammates.

Krug and Coleman go at it after Coleman lays out Kuhlman.

Less than 3 minutes remain.#NHLBruins #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/zVmDu0HRoI

— BOSHockeyNow (@BOSHockeyNow) August 5, 2020

The momentum carried into the second period. At 16:43, they struck. Patrice Bergeron won a faceoff back to Krug, who quickly moved the puck to Charlie McAvoy. McAvoy blasted home a one-timer that fooled Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The pressure continued in the third period, as the Bruins carried the play and had the edge in chances. It only took 1:47 of the third to tie the game. A loose puck found its way onto the stick of Zdeno Chara, who fired a shot that squeaked through Vasilevskiy. The puck slowly bounced off the post and made its way back into the crease. That’s where Chris Wagner collected it and stuffed it home to even the game at two.

After a flurry of chances and both ends in the final ten minutes, Johnson ended the game with his rebound goal. The Lightning are now 2-0-0 in the round-robin, while the Bruins are 0-2-0.