BOSTON \u2014\u00a0Over the course of the early season losing skid, the Boston Bruins have at least been able to look themselves in the mirror and say, even through gritted teeth, that at least they gave themselves a chance<\/p>\n
But after losing their sixth straight game on Tuesday night, 7-5, to the Anaheim Ducks at TD Garden, the Bruins are unable to accept those words anymore. Now, they just ring hollow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is devastating, the way we\u2019re losing these games,\u201d Charlie McAvoy said. \u201cIt\u2019s killing us. We\u2019re fighting so hard and we just can\u2019t stop beating ourselves. It\u2019s pretty defeating right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
All it seems the Bruins can do right now is fall over themselves, over, and over, and over again.<\/p>\n
They had two one-goal leads early on. They gave them both up. They came back from both a one-goal and two goal deficits, only to fall behind once again moments later.<\/p>\n
Trailing by two goals midway through the third period, Boston tied the game with a from David Pastrnak on the power play, followed by another from Morgan Geekie in quick succession.<\/p>\n
Once again, they had battled back. Once again, they fell over.<\/p>\n
Just 3o seconds after the Bruins tied the score, Troy Terry pushed the Ducks back in front, this time for good.\u00a0 With the Bruins already stunned, Mikael Granlund added an empty-net goal moments later for good measure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s embarrassing,\u201d said Nikita Zadorov. \u201cIt\u2019s not how we want to play or how we should play, giving up so many goals every night. We expect to win the hockey games. If you\u2019re scoring five [goals], that should be an automatic win all the time.\u201d <\/p>\n
Surprisingly, offense hasn\u2019t been an issue this year for the Bruins. They\u2019ve had no problem finding the back of the net, like many expected they would. They just can\u2019t keep the puck out of theirs.<\/p>\n
Casey Mittelstadt provided the Bruins with the night\u2019s lead just 2:10 into the opening frame with his third goal of the year. Halfway through the frame, the Ducks tied the score at 8:06 of the first when Drew Helleson was allowed to barrel down the wing uncovered and snap a sharp-angle shot that beat Joonas Koprisalo (23 saves on 29 shots) just inside the far post.<\/p>\n
It was the same script in the middle stanza, even after Boston dominated the first portion of it.<\/p>\n
The Bruins seemed to be in complete control once Geekie sniped his first goal of the night. That gave them a 2-1 advantage, but only for the time being, as Cutter Gauthier drew the Ducks back even 2:40 later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kicked ourselves with some bad shifts,\u201d head coach Marco Sturm said. \u201cAll of a sudden, those bad shifts, unfortunately, are ending up in our net right now. It feels like, \u2018here we go again.\u2019 That was my thought process. Those few shifts, that end up in our net, those are very fixable. Those are things that have nothing to do with our system or anything like that. That\u2019s just individual effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anaheim took its first lead of the night following a goal from Jacob Trouba that leaked through Korpisalo on the short side with 4:36 left until the intermission, but a goal from Mason Lohrei on the power play sent the two sides to the third tied 3-3.<\/p>\n
A near scoring chance for the Bruins turned into a shorthanded situation when Viktor Arvidsson took a tripping penalty that eventually led to Granlund providing the Ducks with the go-ahead goal 2:52 into the period. Sam Colangelo tacked on an insurance tally with 13:11 left to play.<\/p>\n
Clearly, that wasn\u2019t enough to keep the Bruins down.<\/p>\n
It was then that they began to mount their near comeback. But you already know what happens next. We\u2019ve already seen this story too many times before.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all embarrassed, including me,\u201d said Sturm. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely not the way we want to present ourselves, especially at home, too. That\u2019s the frustrating part, because if you look at the first few games, we were all dialed in. We had one goal in mind, and we got the job done. All of a sudden we go on the road, and it piles up. It goes quickly in two weeks. Now we\u2019re in a hole, a big hole.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bruins will host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.<\/p>\n
FOLLOW ANDREW FANTUCCHIO ON\u00a0\ud835\udd4f: @A_FANTUCCHIO<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\nFOLLOW\u00a0BOSTON HOCKEY NOW<\/a>\u00a0ON\u00a0\ud835\udd4f<\/a>\u00a0AND\u00a0FACEBOOK<\/a><\/p>\n