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Bruins blow two-goal lead in third, lose to Penguins 03.12.13 at 10:07 pm ET
By DJ Bean

Anton Khudobin was 6:18 away from shutting out the Penguins. Fifty-one seconds later, the game was tied at two. Not long after that, Brandon Sutter was celebrating the second of two goals on the night to give the Penguins a 3-2 come-from-behind lead.

With the B’s holding a two-goal lead acquired in the first period, Chris Kunitz beat Khudobin from the right circle on a one-time fed by Kris Letang to make it 2-1. Sutter then finished off a 3-on-2 with his seventh goal of the season to tie the game and gave the Penguins the lead with less than two minutes to play.

The Penguins’ scoring was a long time coming, as they dominated the play late in the second period onward, but the B’s weathered the storm until Kunitz finally got Pittsburgh on the board. Boston had a season-low 16 shots on goal, while the Penguins put 34 pucks on Khudobin.

Zdeno Chara got the Bruins on the board in the first period with a power-play goal on a slap shot from the point, with Tyler Seguin making it 2-0 at 13:30 of the first with his ninth goal of the season.

The Bruins will return to the Garden Thursday night to host the Panthers.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

- It was the third loss this season for the Bruins when leading entering the third period, as the Sabres, Canadiens and Penguins have all come back to beat Boston in the third.

- Chris Kelly missed the game with what appeared to be a knee injury suffered Monday night against the Senators. With Kelly out of the lineup, Rich Peverley was moved to center on the third line, with Jay Pandolfo jumping into the lineup on left wing and Jordan Caron moving to right wing.

- Nathan Horton could have made it 3-0 early in the second period but missed the net, sending the puck wide right. Horton has now gone seven consecutive games without a goal.

- The Penguins really turned it on in the second period, with the B’s spending the vast majority of the period’s final 10 minutes in their own zone. Boston was able to survive the onslaught, but Pittsburgh was clearly in control later in the period. Once the floodgates opened with Kunitz’ goal, however, there was no stopping the Penguins.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

- The B’s came through with a huge 5-on-3 penalty kill against a Penguins team that entered the game with the third-best power play in the league. With one of their top penalty killers in Patrice Bergeron already in the box, Anton Khudobin was whistled for high-sticking, giving Pittsburgh a 1:05 5-on-3. Trios of Rich Peverley, Andrew Ference and Johnny Boychuk and Peverley with Chara and Seidenberg killed it off, with Peverley winning two big face-offs. Pittsburgh’s second power play ended early when Chris Kunitz went off for tripping Johnny Boychuk with 16 seconds left in Khudobin’s penalty.

- The Penguins had not been shut out this season, but give Khudobin credit for coming close as long as he did. Khudobin was strong for the B’s until the floodgates opened, getting plenty of work as the Penguins turned up the heat with sustained pressure from the Penguins in the second half of the game.

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  • Manager blunder

    16 SOG and the manager decides to try to hold the highest scoring team for two periods. He should know that Pitt owns the Bruins. They ran out of gas playing defense.

  • Fab4ever

    A trend is beginning to form…they are struggling in the 3rd period…up again and poof, gone. No time to panic but this is disturbing….reminds me very much of last season….

  • Titletown1

    Wow, where to begin with this one? They played like champs for the first 20 minutes and then tried to hold on for dear life after that. Khudobin played out of his mind for 55 minutes. Welcome to the 48 game sprint, B’s.

    But once again, this game points out the need for a goal scorer. You can’t score just two goals against a team like Pittsburgh and expect to hold on for a win.

    BTW, anyone seen Milan Lucic lately? Did he dress tonight? Or the last game? Or the game before that?

  • Boring Media Hype

    Bah…too many of these type of losses…..not a team I’ll waste my time following any longer

  • Troll Hunter

    Might be the worst loss of the season considering they at least got a point after blowing the lead in Washington and you could blame Chara being in the box against Montreal. You just can’t keep trying to win games 3-2 every single night. Chiarelli needs to get at least another decent scorer as Horton looks old and slow. He might take the longest to get a shot off(usually missing the net) than anyone else I have ever seen. Bad, bad loss and they needed to at least get a point after pitching a shutout for almost 54 minutes. BTW how many terrible giveaways have you seen by the Bruins in the last 4 or 5 games? I know they had a nice little points streak going but man they have turned the puck over way too much lately.

  • Titletown1

    Completely agree. They puked up a three goal lead to Montreal and they spit up all over themselves tonight. It’s like they get too comfortable just holding on instead of getting the next goal which would put the game on ice (no pun). This is the third time they’ve done this already….

  • po’d

    No, milk carton, I have not seen our ‘first’ line!!!

  • Bruinman86

     The lack of offensive creativity and finishing is a concern for me.  They need some scoring punch to give them some breathing room. I’m all for trading Krejci for a sniper.

  • Troll Hunter

     The trend is whenever they get a two goal lead they start laying back and stop attacking and play that trap. It sometimes works with a goaltender like Tuukka but you just knew tonight Anton was going to cough it up. Not his fault as the turnovers and the failure to clear their own zone reared its ugly head again tonight. I swear Julien gets fined if the Bruins score more than 3 goals or win by more than a goal or at most two. I can cut them a little slack with the back to backs coming off that OT game in Ottawa but man that was frustrating.

  • Xander Bogaerts

    I would trade Nathan Horton tomorrow if the Bs could find someone who has skill to play on a line with Krejci. Horton’s decision making & puck carrying skills are absolutely terrible. He is singlehandedly bringing down the Krejci line. Horton has been horrible for a month now. I would sit him and try to light a fire under him for his careless play. Lucic hasn’t been much better.

  • http://twitter.com/bruinsinbc steve grande

    i wonder what juliens excuses are this time..get rid of peverly and horton asap..they cant even get the puck out of there own end of the ice…they wont trade anyone and they will be out in the first round again…..im done with this team

  • NYCBruinsFan

    What a terrible display.  You could watch it all happen as they skated in slow motion at the end of the 3rd peroid giving them one opportunity and give away after another.  No excuse for dropping these 2 adn 3 goal leads in the 3rd. 

  • NYCBruinsFan

    And after killing off a 5 on 3 for over a minute…..

  • Gray

    I still question the selection of which goal tender to face which team ~ 

  • Chappy

    Too many turnovers in their own end, not enough punch from Lucic-Horton-Krejci…….I would have to think Horton is gone in a trade soon – he is a marginal skater with no fire and a big $$$ coming up.  At least on occasion Lucic gets a burr in his saddle…

  • Mole

    another no show for cementhead…..he could be outta here with a big trade before the deadline…

  • Bruinsfan43

    They out played the Pens for half the game and then seemed content to just hold onto the lead.  You could see that loss coming by the beginning of the third.  Khudobin stood on his head to keep them in it, but no legs left for the rest of the team.  I am not impressed with either Horton’s play or Krecji.  Krecji is not a first line center in my opinion, he does not look to score enough and is always looking to pass, which every team in the league has figured out.  Horton and company (Peverly, Lucic, Seguin) miss the net on too many open shots!  I am OK with trading Krecji as well.

  • MAS

    AGAIN -2 RATING FOR LUC… BOTH GOALS JUST WATCHING THE PLAY COASTING IN ..NO DEFENSIVE HELP, I KNOW THE THIRD GOAL WAS A BAD PASS FROM SEIN BUT LUC IS STANDING FLAT FOOTED AT THE BLUE LINE THEN DOES NOT EVEN TRY TO BACK CHECK… CAN’T STAND TO WATCH LUC PLAY.. 

  • Kbksi

    Have been folloiwng the B’s for 40 years…I can’t understand it, how is Chara rated as one of the Top 5 defensemen in the league? I like him, he’s good, at times very good but at times very average.. is the rest of the defensemen in the league that bad that he is Norris material? He is not, by any stretch of the imagination, what Ray Bourque was.

  • Kodiakdawg

    In 2 of the 3 third period meltdowns, the Bruins could have “put the dagger in the heart of the opponent” – Seguin on a 2 on 1 vs Caps, and Horton sent clear in after a face-off win – and misses the net from 6 feet out…..both inexcusable as more than likely a goal in those situations seals a win….. BUT … both missed and eventuall the D gets worn out and makes mistakes.

    Cant just lay back and let them take it to you – have to play your game. 

  • Fab4ever

    I am with you…I think I heard or read that the B’s have not had a 4 goal margin all season…something to that effect….OK, I understand it was the back end of the back-to-back games and it was the 3rd period but they are losing their legs, that isn’t good. Like I said, I’m not going to panic…I’ll sit back…they still have 2 games on the Habs who play NOBODY until the come back to Boston late this month…that will be the biggest game of the year…

  • Fab4ever

    Chara was the best player on the ice for 2 periods last night…no, he’s not Ray, not close but last night cannot be blamed on Z….

  • NYCBruinsFan

    Gray, looking back at this one your’re absoutly right, I do wonder the thought process of playing Anton against the Pens and putting Tuukka against the Panthers, especially since you would have thought they’rd rest Tuukka on Thursday for the weekend against the Caps and Pens

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