Things did not get off to the start the Bruins envisioned for themselves in a Monday matinee head-to-head with the Lightning at TD Garden. <\/p>\n
Unable to handle the puck with any sort of poise, the Bruins found themselves in a two-goal hole after the first period, and saw that deficit balloon out to three just 39 seconds into the middle frame. And though the Bruins battled back, turning what was a 3-0 deficit and then a 4-1 deficit into a one-goal game, the ugly start proved costly in a 4-3 loss to the Lightning. <\/p>\n
The defeat was head coach Marco Sturm’s first behind the Boston bench. <\/p>\n
“They came ready to play. We know their starting six, they just want to get to work, [and] we just weren\u2019t ready,” Sturm said following the loss. “That\u2019s why they ended [scoring] four times on pretty much an empty net.\u201d<\/p>\n
Down by three, the Bruins began their push back behind Casey Mittelstadt’s second goal of the season, scored just 30 seconds after Tampa’s third goal. <\/p>\n
And though the Bolts would quickly regain their three-goal lead, the Bruins continued to surge, with second-period tallies from Jordan Harris and Morgan Geekie to bring themselves within one by the period’s end. <\/p>\n
Boston continued their push into the third period, and had a golden opportunity to knot things up with a gift of a third-period penalty on the Lightning, drawn by the Bruins’ Viktor Arvidsson at the 6:05 mark. And even when that power-play opportunity failed to provide the Bruins with much of anything, the Bruins remained in the game, and had chances during a 6-on-5, a 5-on-4, and even a 5-on-3 opportunity with just eight seconds to go. <\/p>\n
But the Bruins found themselves unable to find the game-tying goal on the Bolts’ Jonas Johansson, who finished with 30 saves in the win. <\/p>\n
Boston’s Joonas Korpisalo, meanwhile, took the loss behind a a 19-for-23 outing in the crease, though he wasn’t given much help in front of him. <\/p>\n