Once again, the B’s battled back from a two-goal deficit to start the game and then a one-goal deficit in the third period on Wednesday against the Ducks in Anaheim. But as has happened all too often this season, the depleted B’s failed to get anything out of their otherwise admirable effort, giving up the winning goal with 3:35 to go and losing to the Ducks 4-3.
After Ian Moore’s screen grab beat Joonas Korpisalo for what would become the GWG, the B’s put heavy pressure on goalkeeper Lukas Dostal, but he held the ball down for the Ducks.
The B’s have simply left too many points on the table this season. It is now 12-10 and they have allowed the winning goal five times in the final ten minutes of the third period.
The Bruins played a very good first period, outscoring the Ducks 18-11, but found themselves in an early 2-0 hole when they gave up a pair of goals in a span of four minutes.
Jansen Harkins got Anaheim on the board at 2:29. Ross Johnston threw a bad angle shot at Korpisalo, which set up a rebound. Hampus Lindholm, who had his stick broken earlier in the shift, could not tie Harkins and the fourth liner jabbed him home.
The B’s immediately pushed back, but goalkeeper Dostal did an excellent job of keeping the B’s off the board. And at 6:29, Radko Gudas’s slapper deviated from Fraser Minten and past Korpisalo.
After killing an Anaheim penalty, the B’s had their own chance on the man advantage and capitalized at 14:58. Lindholm turned the puck toward the net and Morgan Geekie got his 13th of the year on a high tip that was just under the crossbar. The puck had briefly rested on Dostal’s pad when Matej Blumel hacked it before going in. Blumel initially thought this was his goal, but it didn’t appear he touched the puck.
Dostal made numerous Class A stops, but none were better than late in the period when Alex Steeves and Nikita Zadorov broke out in a 2-on-0. Steeves served Zadorov, but Dostal was able to get over in time and make a good positional save.
The B’s dominated the start of the second period, but it looked like the Ducks had regained their two-goal lead at the 8:56 mark when Mason McTavish came from behind the net and found a swinging Korpisalo. But the goal was quickly wiped out due to incidental contact McTavish made with Korpisalo to put the net observer on his behind.
But that disallowed goal seemed to energize Anaheim and the Ducks would make it 3-1 in maddening fashion.
Mason Lohrei was assessed a tripping penalty and the B’s did well to eliminate it. But with two seconds left, the Ducks struck. After the B’s couldn’t get the puck out, McTavish put the pass down low for Ryan Strome, who scored on a nice tip from the side of the crease at 13:47.
However, the B’s got one back with 1:33 left in the period. After Nikita Zadorov’s end-to-end rush failed to pay off, he recovered in time to retrieve a puck high in his own zone and caught the Ducks in a transition with a quick pass to Mikey Eyssimont at the Anaheim blue line. It looked like he was going to get a strange man rush, but it was cut off. Eyssimont waited for the recovering Anaheim defender to leave and give him a shooting lane. He chose his spot and buried his fifth of the year under Dostal’s glove.
The B’s held a 30-20 shot lead through two periods, but were still playing catch-up entering the third.
There was some tension early in the third when Gudas delivered a dangerous goal on Eyssimont’s knee. Jeffrey Viel immediately went after Gudas, who covered up while Viel threw a few shots. Gudas finally knocked Viel to the ice, after hitting his head on the ice, Viel was clearly wobbly. He walked into the room and was tagged with the full 2-5-10 for inducement.
The B’s, not liking that conversation, killed that minor and got a power play of their own at 7:31 when Harkins cross-checked David Pastrnak.
It took them eight seconds to attach it. Geekie scored his fourteenth goal when he tapped Pastrnak’s shot past Dostal.
Then things got a bit wild, with both goalkeepers making excellent saves to keep the match. First Dostal robbed Geekie of his hat-trick bid with a big arm and then the Ducks turned up the pressure. Korpisalo had to make nice stops on McTavish and Frank Vatrano to keep the score in balance.
But the ice tilted the wrong way and the Ducks regained the lead with 3:35 to go in the third. With Alex Steeves battling Chris Kreider up front, Moore’s long shot went through Steeves’ block attempt and through Korpisalo for the winner.
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