The Boston Bruins head into the two-week 4 Nations Face-Off break outside of a playoff spot after suffering back-to-back losses to the New York Rangers and the Vegas Golden Knights.
In their most recent game against Vegas, Boston held a 3-2 advantage going into the third period but failed to maintain their lead—especially after Pavel Zacha was penalized for slashing Pavel Dorofeyev.
The Bruins had a moment of fortune when Dorofeyev’s goal, which would have put Vegas ahead with 1:41 left in regulation, was overturned due to goaltender interference by Mark Stone on Jeremy Swayman. However, that break was short-lived. Less than a minute later, Tomas Hertl capitalized on Boston’s defensive lapse and scored, sealing a come-from-behind victory for the Golden Knights.
Following the game, Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco acknowledged the opportunity they had been given. “We got a break, right?” he stated in team-provided audio. However, he emphasized the team’s failure to capitalize on the disallowed goal, stating, “We have to kill that (penalty) after because that’s a huge momentum shift when they disallowed the goal. We just have to do the job and kill that. We should have gotten it done, and we didn’t.”
Boston found itself in a similar situation earlier in the final period. With the score tied at 3-3, Nikita Zadorov appeared to have given the Bruins a 4-3 lead with his second goal of the game. However, the goal was waved off after Brad Marchand made contact with Vegas goaltender Ilya Samsonov, nullifying the potential go-ahead score.
After the loss, Marchand expressed his frustration. “Yeah, I’m disappointed,” he said, according to team-provided audio. “They’re one of the top three power plays in the league. They don’t need much. It was disappointing. We got that (no-goal) call, but we couldn’t finish it off.”
Prior to Wednesday’s game against the Rangers, Boston had been 16-0-4 this season when leading after two periods. However, they have now suffered consecutive regulation losses despite holding third-period leads.
The Bruins enter the break with a 27-24-6 record and 25 games remaining in the regular season. If they hope to secure a playoff spot, they will need to regroup and make a strong push after the break, beginning with a home matchup against the Anaheim Ducks on February 22 at TD Garden.