Talking Points: Boston Bruins Collapse In OT Loss To Kings

Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 3-2 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night at TD Garden after a glorious six game road trip out West.

GOLD STAR: Trevor Moore played a very strong game for the Los Angeles Kings and got rewarded for it in the closing minute. It was Moore that managed to get position on Derek Forbort in front of the Boston net, corral the deflection off his own body and then pump a puck into the net past Linus Ullmark all before a Bruins defense could get anywhere close to the puck. Moore finished with three shots on net, six shot attempts overall and two blocked shots in 19:31 of ice time for the Kings. But it was paying the price in the dirty area at the net in the moment of truth that ultimately allowed Los Angeles to salvage two points out of a game where they were outplayed for large portions of it.

BLACK EYE: Poor Mikey Anderson felt the full brunt of trying to body up Brad Marchand in a puck battle against the side boards. Loud, merciless contact left the LA defenseman stunned, injured and out for the remainder of Monday night’s game.

Mikey Anderson is in a ton of pain after this reverse hit from Brad Marchand: pic.twitter.com/t66NT2iSci

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) March 8, 2022

TURNING POINT: Brutal sequence in overtime as the Bruins didn’t play well at all and doubled down on that with Charlie Coyle throwing a hope pass that was picked off by the speedy Andreas Athanasiou, who beat Charlie McAvoy in a foot race to the net before burying a shot past Linus Ullmark.

A goal fit for a King. 🤴

Andreas Athanasiou turns on the jets and buries the @TwistedTea OT winner! pic.twitter.com/BgU3cLq8KZ

— NHL (@NHL) March 8, 2022

It’s too bad that the Coyle turnover ended up being Boston’s undoing because he’d played an excellent game with two really good passing plays that led to goals prior to that. The third time just wasn’t the charm for him, or for the Boston Bruins, during the overtime session.

HONORABLE MENTION: Craig Smith definitely gets the honorable mention for pumping in what should have been the game-winning goal on a blast from the slot after a nice-looking Charlie Coyle dish found him wide open. Smith is continuing his recent goal-scoring binge with his 11^th of the season and also had four shots on net in 13:30 of ice time to go along with the goal, two points and the plus-2 rating for the right winger. It was Smith’s aggressive shot on net that also created a Cal Peterson rebound in the first period that wound up creating Trent Frederic’s score on another nice-looking pass from Coyle to a wide open teammate.

BY THE NUMBERS: 26 – the number of seconds remaining on the clock in the third period when Trevor Moore managed to utilize a good bounce off his body to put the game-tying goal in the back of the net for the Los Angeles Kings.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “You’ve got to value the puck. The play at the end is just not a very good hockey play. We got what we deserved on that play.” –Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy on an ill-advised Charlie Coyle pass attempt in OT that led to the Kings breakaway goal.