Bruins hope to rebound in Columbus (Oct 30, 2017)
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Boston Bruins lost in the most devastating way possible on Saturday night and somehow must put that out of their minds before their next game.
The Bruins (4-3-2) are back in action Monday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets (7-4-0) at Nationwide Arena. But it will be hard to forget what happened two nights earlier in Boston at the end of a game against the Los Angeles Kings.
With 0.9 of a second left in overtime, Kings center Anze Kopitar won a faceoff to the left of Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask, the puck went directly to Los Angeles teammate Tyler Toffoli in the slot and his one-timer screamed across the goal line before the clock struck zero.
In the blink of an eye, the Kings were celebrating and the Bruins were left shaking their heads. It happened so fast that Rask didn't even see the puck until it was in the back of the net.
"I mean, if someone told you before they could score in 0.9 seconds -- drop the puck, win it and shoot it, you'd probably say I don't know," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Boy, that's tough. I'm not sure you can do it again if you tried it 100 times with no players on the ice."
Rask was making his first start since returning from a concussion. It was his 400th career game, and it's safe to say Rask (1-4-0) and almost everyone in the building had never seen an ending like that.
"That's one of those things that happens once in a blue moon," said forward Brad Marchand, who leads the Bruins with seven goals and 12 points. "It's unfortunate. I thought we played a pretty good game. It's just tough how it ended."
Teammate Torey Krug agreed, but cautioned that the Bruins can't dwell on it.
"You have to look at your whole body of work," he said. "It was a tight checking game and L.A. is obviously playing well. Unfortunately, we couldn't come out with the two points, but we'll just move on to Columbus."
The Bruins split four games on their recent homestand. After they visit Columbus, it's back to Boston for three straight home games.
"We want to get back to our identity of being hard to play against but still have our offense," Cassidy said. "We're getting some of that identity defensively, but we want to make sure we don't lose our ability to score goals."
Rask and Anton Khudobin have split time this year in goal, with Rask starting six games in goal and Khudobin five. Khudobin participated in an optional skate on Sunday morning before the team left for Columbus and could get the start on Monday.
The Bruins recalled goaltender Zane McIntyre from AHL Providence on an emergency basis to serve as the backup goaltender for Monday's game, meaning there may be an injury to Rask.
The Bruins will also be without David Krejci (upper-body injury). In six games this season, the 31-year-old center has one goal and five assists.
For the Blue Jackets, starts have become more of a concern than endings. Lately, they've been falling behind in the first period and playing catch-up.
That was the case again Saturday night in St. Louis against the Blues. Columbus trailed 1-0 after the first period and ended up losing 4-1 at the Scottrade Center.
The same thing happened a night earlier at home against the Winnipeg Jets, but the Blue Jackets were able to overcome an early 1-0 deficit with the equalizer midway through the third period and the winner in overtime.
"We've got to find a way to come to work on time," Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky said.
The loss in St. Louis prevented the Blue Jackets from tying or breaking a franchise record for points to start a season. They have 14 points after 11 games, just short of the record of 15 set during the 2007-08 season.
"I'm not going to overthink it," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said after the loss. "That team was better than we were tonight. They started better than we (did). We were chasing them."
The Blue Jackets are concerned, though, about winger Cam Atkinson. The team's leading scorer the past two seasons left Saturday night's game in the third period with a lower-body injury and didn't return.
Tortorella was not able to provide an update on Atkinson's condition after the game, and there was no practice on Sunday after the team returned home from St. Louis.
Rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois moved up to replace Atkinson on his line. Atkinson has four goals and one assist in 11 games this season.
Backup Joonas Korpisalo was in goal for the loss to the Blues, but Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to get the start against the Bruins. Bobrovsky has a 6-2 record with a 1.86 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage in eight starts.
