Highlights from the Bruins' 3-2 loss to the Lightning

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FINAL SCORE: Lightning 3, Bruins 2

FROM JOE HAGGERTY:

1. No shots on net in 8:26 of ice time for Danton Heinen, who has barely been noticeable on the ice. What has happened offensively to a player that nearly went for 20 goals and 50 points last season? It’s just not there at all this season. Two goals and five points in 26 games just isn’t even close to good enough for a young player that appears to have lost all of his confidence at the offensive end of the ice. You’d hate to send him down to Providence given all the NHL street cred he built up last season with a strong rookie campaign, but he’s just another guy right now.

2. So far, so good for Charlie McAvoy. Clearly, he was rusty after missing the last 20 games and it showed on the Tampa goal scored in the first period when he was on the ice and couldn’t really do much to clear the puck out of the zone. He also took a hooking penalty at the end of the period that left the B’s shorthanded, and a couple of giveaways through the first two periods of play. But McAvoy finished with three shot attempts and played 6:25 of ice time in the first, and just his puck-moving presence alone is going to make the B’s better as gets more into the flow of the games. The most important end result of this first game is that he feels healthy and comfortable on the ice again after getting dinged in the head.

3. Not sure what happened to the Bruins team that came out with energy in the first period and blocked shots against Tampa, but they lost a little of that fervor in the second period when they blocked just a single Tampa shot. Perhaps the Bruins couldn’t quite keep up with the Tampa Bay pace, and that’s why the roof began to cave in the third period when they allowed a couple of goals to push the game out of reach. The Bruins looked very good for much of the first period and had a decent second period where they actually outshot Tampa 12-6. But it all fell apart in the third period the B’s couldn’t keep up the pace.  

4. Despite working on it in practice on Wednesday, the Bruins continue to have major issues with a power play unit they need to be effective in order to win hockey games. The Bruins are now 1-for-12 in their last three games on the man advantage while ranking in the top-5 pretty much all season on the PP, and they also allowed a dagger shorthanded goal to Anthony Cirelli in the third period that gave Tampa a two-goal cushion. With the way the B’s offense is struggling lately while missing some of their best players, that is pretty much an insurmountable deficit. So it’s once again back to the drawing board to improve things with Boston’s suddenly problematic special teams.

5. It’s one goal in his last 11 games for Brad Marchand, who very clearly misses his partner-in-crime Patrice Bergeron right now while soldiering on. Not so coincidentally, the rough offensive stretch dates back exactly to the November game in Colorado where the Bruins lost No. 37 to a chest injury, and since then it’s been a challenge for Bruce Cassidy to find a center that will work with his top wingers. Eventually against Tampa Cassidy had to slide David Krejci in the middle between Marchand and David Pastrnak to get some more offensive jump. But it’s going to be less-than-ideal and an uphill battle for Marchand until he gets his longtime center back.  

HIGHLIGHTS

PASTA STRIKES FIRST

POINT TIES IT

TAMPA BREAKS THE TIE

LIGHTNING MAKE IT 3-1 WITH SHORTHANDED SCORE

BRUINS RECORD: 14-10-4

BOX SCORE.

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