blues 5 - bruins 4 (SO)

This afternoon's match between the Blues and the Bruins basically happened entirely in the third period.

The B's went into the third down 2-1 to the surprisingly tenacious Blues. The Bruins were then able to score 3 goals in under a minute and a half, and had two chances at an open net with Blues goalie Chris Mason on the bench. However both open-net chances missed the yawning cage.

With the Bruins up 4-2 with 3.05 remaining, the Blues scored a powerplay goal, and then tied it with another shot batted out of mid-air with 1 second remaining in the game, sending the game to overtime. A scoreless overtime brought a shootout, and eventually, the winning goal from (former Bruin) Brad Boyes.

This game did not display the skills of a Bruins team battling to retain first overall, nor a team trying to remain first in the East; this afternoon's game was far more about a team that is more streaky than consistent, and, by getting a couple of bounces one way or another, is often more lucky than good.

This has been a strange season for a Bruins fan, but the team's play of late is more consistent with what fans have come to expect -- recent games have tapped into the latent frustrations of the Bruins faithful, with the team inexplicably less engaged in one-on-one battles, and less able to connect passes and flow up the ice.

The Bruins have overachieved all year, but lately it feels like the players have taken their foot off the gas, and in so doing, begun showing some sloppy habits that make wins harder to come by. They seemed largely uninspired in this afternoon's match, and even when they did finally wake up and score three unanswered goals, they lost the focus necessary to finish the Blues off with an empty net goal.

I hope the Bruins can regain the precision and tenacity that they showed earlier this season, because right now, playing like they simply expect the wins to come without effort, they are being beaten by teams that should not be even challenging them.

The Bruins may have emerged with a single point, but given who they were playing, and the fact that they had several chances to put the game away in the final moments, the Bruins simply did not come to play.