Talking Points: Slumping Boston Bruins Fall In Third To Chicago

Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 6-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Tuesday night.

GOLD STAR: Taylor Raddysh with three goals in the third period for the Blackhawks in an offensive explosion that truly defies explanation at both ends. Most of the Raddysh offense served as insurance stuff for Chicago with Raddysh banging home a loose puck in front to give the B’s some cushion on the scoreboard before he fired home a puck into an empty net late in the third. Raddysh finished with three goals and a plus-2 rating in 16:26 of ice time to go along with five shot attempts, two hits, two takeaways and a blocked shot. The three goals give Raddysh his first 20-goal season in his NHL career as one of the big pieces that came to Chicago in the deal for Brandon Hagel.

BLACK EYE: Connor Clifton and Derek Forbort were far from good on Tuesday night. A gassed Clifton was beaten to the net by Mackenzie Entwhistle in the first period for Chicago’s first goal and he was spun around and looking lost on another Taylor Raddysh goal late in the third period. Clifton finished with a minus-3 rating and Forbort also finished a minus-3 as well when he was turned around on a slick Boris Katchouk toe drag and drive to the net where he buried one top corner against Linus Ullmark. This pairing was brutal in every sense as both players looked like they were fighting it while simply trying to defend in their own zone.

TURNING POINT: The Boston Bruins lost the game in the third period that’s been their big-time strength all season. The B’s had tied things up at the end of the second period, which indicated they might have enough to push past the Blackhawks. Then they took a brief lead on a Pavel Zacha goal in the third period. But then the Hawks stormed out with a tying and go-ahead goal and watched as Tyler Bertuzzi had a possible goal waved off when a shot hit a crossbar and the bottom of the post before bouncing away from the net. That was Boston’s last, best hope as the Blackhawks poured on the pressure and added goals for the 6-3 win after that point.

HONORABLE MENTION: Hampus Lindholm finished as one of only two Boston Bruins players with a positive plus/minus rating when it was over, and posted a goal and two points along with a plus-1 rating in 24 plus minutes of ice time. Lindholm was the one kick-starting the offense with Boston’s first score and then it was his dump-in attempt that set up Tyler Bertuzzi winning a one-on-one battle with Seth Jones, and resulted in Bertuzzi feeding it to Trent Frederic for a game-tying goal at the end of the second period. It appeared to be a big goal at the time and Lindholm played a part in it, but that was before the wheels really came off for the Boston Bruins in the third period. Lindholm did all of that while playing with a banged up foot that forced him to skip Sunday’s game in Detroit when he had a sore foot.

BY THE NUMBERS: 36-20 – the hit advantage for the Chicago Blackhawks over the Bruins as the Hawks most definitely won the physical and effort advantage against the Black and Gold.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “It’s frustration. We’re not working as a team right now and it’s the first time all year I can say that. The energy and the emotion of our team right now is at levels that I haven’t seen all year.” –Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery to NESN following Tuesday night’s loss.