Bruins vs. Devils 1/16/21 RECAP: Bruins even strength offense completely short-circuits in 2-1 overtime loss

This was boring as hell.

First Period:

The Bruins did their best impression of the 2019 Minnesota Wild in having some zone time but doing absolutely goddamn nothing with it, and further continuing to have defensive miscues.

And the Devils, who have, if nothing else, plenty of guys who can skate, capitalized. After quite a bit of puck movement, Miles Wood, who was a royal pain in the ass all game, ended up getting the re-direct. Devils go up 1-0.

Just not great.

Second Period:

Things got slightly better! But not perfect!

Namely, the Bruins almost got Craig Smith on the board, but it was called back for interference on Mackenzie Blackwood. Bruce Cassidy challenged, and it was deemed still interference, putting the B’s on the penalty kill. And Patrice Bergeron/Brad Marchand?

They made the most of it. 1-1 shorthanded.

That more or less ended the period, and we move on.

Third Period:

There was a lot of chances on either side, but nobody was able to capitalize. Part of it was good goaltender play such as from Halak and Blackwood, and the other bit was the B’s simply being incapable of getting out in front of Blackwood consistently. It was incredibly frustrating, especially with Gryz taking a penalty just before the end of regulation.

Overtime:

Well, it looked like we were heading for the Shootout, but another one of those fast skater boys that the Devils have, Yegor Sharangovich, had other plans off of a pretty slick Damon Severson pass.

Boston takes their first loss of the season in overtime to the tune of 2-1. Gross.

Game Notes:

• Couple things: It’s early, nobody looks completely smooth and professional yet (except the Lightning but tbh, they’re playing with cheat codes on), and the Bruins are dealing with plenty of roster turnover. This may not mean much in the grand scheme of things.
• All that said...Hey, remember how 100+ minute even strength scoring droughts completely screwed the Bruins over the past couple of playoff series? Guess what, we’re doing this again, only now with regular season stuff! The Bruins couldn’t attack the slot whatsoever during the first half of the game, and their only goal of the game was a short-handed chance. We are currently going on 129:58 of even strength hockey without a 5-on-5 goal. That is simply unacceptable.
• Ondrej Kase’s miserable luck only continues with what almost certainly looked like a concussion. Just terrible for a guy with noted issues with it.
• I’m starting to really like Jakub Zboril’s game. He’s getting limited minutes, but his shooting and passing from the point is pretty strong!
• Trent Frederic. Big! Aggressive! Physical! Had a couple of great shooting opportunities! Definitely making the fourth linie look a lot better than it did last year! ...But also completely forgot that the actual bothersome player from the Devils today was Miles Wood. Instead, he decided his particular dance partner today was PK Subban. While funny, it also more or less ensured Wood got off scot-free. Gonna have to impress on these tougher guys to keep track of who is actually the guy to intimidate.
• Sean Kuraly should not be playing at 3-on-3. I don’t care how many ““Big Goals”” he’s scored. Play to win, goddamnit.
• If only Yegor Sharangovich was an ECHL player, maybe Don would’ve noticed him...
• We miss you Pasta, please come back soon.

Their next game will be on Monday, when they play the New York Islanders. That game will drop the puck at 7pm EST. We’ll see you then.