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After a sloppy start to the road trip in Detroit on Sunday, the Bruins decided to put forth an even sloppier effort and a scrappy Blackhawks team made them pay.
Chicago skated to a 6-3 win at United Center, powered by a four-goal third period and Taylor Raddysh’s hat trick.
While the Bruins threw 42 shots on goal, it’d be a stretch to say they “deserved better” out of this game — “sloppy” was the theme of the night.
After an early part of the first that saw the Bruins carry a decent portion of the play, MacKenzie Entwistle, in March Madness fashion, took it STRONG TO THE HOOP and opened the scoring for Chicago. 1-0 Blackhawks.
This is a pro-MacKenzie Entwistle podcast and you should unfollow immediately if you don’t like it
— Four Feathers Podcast (@FourFeathersPod) March 15, 2023
pic.twitter.com/9HUk5v97ab
With five minutes left in the second period, Hampus Lindholm’s shot through traffic made it a 1-1 game.
Jake DeBrusk (I think?) tips home a Hampus Lindholm shot to tie the game up
— Boston Bruins Watcher (@WatcherBruins) March 15, 2023
pic.twitter.com/Yc26Scfne3
Joey Anderson would cash in on a loose puck just a couple of minutes later, restoring Chicago’s lead and making it 2-1 Blackhawks.
JOEY ANDERSON WITH THE GO-AHEAD pic.twitter.com/X2VYuYawvj
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) March 15, 2023
A greasy goal for Trent Frederic, after great plays by Lindholm and Tyler Bertuzzi, made it a 2-2 game with 11 seconds left in the second period.
Some great positioning from Hampus Lindholm and good forechecking by Tyler Bertuzzi gets Trent Frederic his first goal in 11 games: pic.twitter.com/lUW7vNDHjb
— Evan Marinofsky (@EvanMarinofsky) March 15, 2023
Pavel Zacha’s laser made it 3-2 Bruins early in the third period.
17 goals for Pavel Zacha. pic.twitter.com/0eRaboH2mb
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) March 15, 2023
I’m not entirely sure what happened in the crush of humanity in front of the Bruins net, but the play ended with Taylor Raddysh scoring and making it a 3-3 game shortly after Zacha’s goal.
Taylor Raddysh jumps on a loose puck and scores his 4th goal in 4 games and 18th of the season. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/iqMYrkphsW
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 15, 2023
Derek Forbort is going to want to burn any and all copies of this play. Boris Katchouk makes it 4-3 Blackhawks midway through the third period.
Boris Katchouk scores a mini highlight-reel goal for his 3rd point of the night. Against Boston. Unreal. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/4JHEwCOL3g
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 15, 2023
After the Bruins let a mid-third period power play go by the board, Raddysh would cash in on a late Chicago power play, making it 5-3 Blackhawks.
IT'S A 2-GOAL NIGHT FOR RADDYSH pic.twitter.com/v6erJiXYJt
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) March 15, 2023
David Pastrnak would end up with a penalty shot with around 90 seconds left, but flubbed it and couldn’t beat Alex Stalock.
Raddysh would add an empty-netter for the hat trick, an exclamation point on a 6-3 Blackhawks win.
The Bruins open their road trip with two consecutive regulation losses to teams well outside the playoff picture, allowing 11 (!!!) goals in the process.
Game notes
- Most of us will still be in “whatever, figure it out before the playoffs” mode, but there’s not a lot of great stuff to say about this one. Chicago entered the night with the league’s least-potent offense (2.47 GF/G), but the Bruins let them score six (including one ENG).
- Too many loose pucks that weren’t taken care of, too many loose defensive plays, too many general lapses...even Linus Ullmark didn’t look great tonight. Ugly!
- You don’t want to lean too much into the “Bruins weren’t trying hard enough” narrative, but regarding the loose pucks point above, it seemed like Chicago was hungrier on the puck tonight (I know that’s a cliché, but...). Faster to loose pucks, more willing to score the messy goals.
- It was another 0-fer for the struggling Bruins power play. Maybe “struggling” isn't strong enough anymore. Flailing? Sinking?
- Chicago’s Petr Mrazek left the game with what looked like a left leg injury in the second period. He didn’t return.
- With the obligatory “plus/minus isn’t a great stat” disclaimer out of the way, Hampus Lindholm and Dmitry Orlov were +2 and +3 respectively, no small feat given the way the team played as a whole.
- On the opposite end of the spectrum were Forbort and Connor Clifton, -3 each. Poor Forbort still doesn’t know which way Boris Katchouk went.
- David Pastrnak wasn’t dinged with any giveaways in the official box score tonight, but your co-worker will still make that a talking point tomorrow because why not?
- Generally speaking, allowing 11 goals in two games is not going to lead to much success. The Bruins should try allowing fewer goals next time.
Speaking of next time, that’ll be on Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets.
Have it at below!
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