Here are five thoughts from the first period with the Bruins trailing the Senators by a 1-0 score after the first 20 minutes at TD Garden.
1) Sloppy, disjointed, uninspired first 20 minutes for the Bruins coming off an 11-day, six-game road trip. Its not surprising given how grinding that road swing was for the Black and Gold complete with a couple of news parts when they got back to Boston, but Bruins need to dig deeper against a team like Ottawa thats tailing them in the division.
2)Joe Corvo shied away from contact a couple of different times on battles for the puck and didnt want to finish a check on Kyle Turris in the first period. Thats a pretty far sight from manning up. Perhaps he got a preemptive strike phone call from the league, but thats still pretty weak sauce.
With our All Access Daily newsletter, stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams!
SIGN UP HERE 3)A bad call or two against the Bruins in the opening period, but they also didnt do much to deserve any good breaks. The tripping call on Brian Rolston was shaky, but Ottawa executed a beautiful power play freeing up Erik Karlsson from the high point while Daniel Alfredsson was screening in front of the net.
4) Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron accounted for four of the Bs seven shots in the first period. Its time for the rest of the team to snap out of their daze and get involved in the game. Way too many passengersonlookers in the first period.
5) Brian Rolston with pretty good jump and aggression in the first period getting back into the Bs lineup. He earned the tripping minor penalty, but he also blocked a pair of shots and got more involved in the play than some of the younger players theyd attempted to insert into the lineup.
Here are five thoughts from the second period with the Bruins trailing the Senators by a 1-0 score after the first 40 minutes at TD Garden.
1) Tim Thomas has been outstanding through two periods and is keeping the Bruins in the game with 30 saves after the first 40 minutes. His leaping recovery to stuff an Erik Condra shot at the doorstep was vintage Thomas in both venturing out of the netand then finding a way to recover for the save. Bruins should be down three or four goals with the tired way theyve played this game.
2)Kyle Turris getting a lot of the Bruins attention in the second period. Shawn Thornton skated behind the Ottawa Senators forward and whispered a little something to the elbow-thrower after he crashed into Tim Thomas and the Boston net, and Milan Lucic trucked him after already earning a delayed call for a slash on Erik Karlsson. The one guy that hasnt gone after him is Joe Corvo.
3)Erik Condra missed what might be the most wide open net of the season midway through the period and thats looming large with Ottawa only leading by a single goal. Tim Thomas was way out of the crease and a puck bounced right to Condra as he worked his way to the open net-mouth, but Condra went wide left with the entire crease to shoot at.
4)Almost 15 minutes for Brian Rolston and Mike Mottau tonight and theres been little influence from either player on the game. Its to be expected given that everything is new to them, but facts are facts.
5)Two shots on net for the Chris KellyDavid KrejciMilan Lucic line and they need to get a little more involved in the final 20 minutes to at least squirrel one point away from the game.
Here are five thoughts from the third period with the Bruins falling to the Senators by a 1-0 score after 60 minutes of frustrating hockey at TD Garden.
1)Bruins finally show a little urgency with 13 shots in the final period, but one has to wonder where this was in the first 40 minutes? Still not enough traffic and not enough rebound retrieval in front of the net.
2)Looks like it really was just the flu with Shawn Thornton last week. Hes been skating with good energy and aggressiveness tonight and seems like one of the few Bs skaters with his wheels. A couple of good scoring chances in the second and third period for Thornton, but he couldnt hit the net with his shots.
3)Good effort by Robin Lehner in the third period with a couple of gloves saves once the Bruins finally got their offensive untracked. A Benoit Pouliot tip of an Andrew Ference point shot was a tough save, and he made a glove stop on a tipped David Krejci bid during a Boston power play.
4)Six shots on net for Kyle Turris, who was active and wasnt playing very frightened throughout the 60 minutes at TD Garden.
5) Bs still without consecutive wins since Jan. 12-13. The mediocrity and .500 hockey continues for the Black and Gold.