There's certainly some irony as to how tonight's game between the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres began. Falling down by one when
Christian Ehrhoff's for the hell of it shot from the point deflected off a Bruin and through
Tuukka Rask, the Bruins appeared to strike back when
Milan Lucic pin-balled a goal by the Sabres'
Ryan Miller. However, the goal that would've been good for Lucic's 20th of the year, was not to be.
Allegedly bumped, the goal would be Boston's lone high-point on a night that saw them get crushed by the Sabres by a 6-0 final. Down by two once
Jason Pominville's 18th tally of the year beat Rask, the 24-year-old Rask's night would draw to a merciful close once
Tyler Ennis' softy early into the second frame all but put it away just 22 minutes into play.
Departing after surrendering three goals on just ten shots, the pull would summon
Tim Thomas to the Boston cage for what would be an eventful finish to the second frame. Despite stopping a flurry of Buffalo shots -- and that's an understatement given some of the stops we saw No. 30 make -- the Bruins would fall behind by four once
Patrick Kaleta scored with help from the skate of
Adam McQuaid.
Paving the way for a gongshow that'd begin in the waning moments of the second period, the third period presented much of the same for the anything-but-fortunate Bruins, who'd surrender two more goals on the way to losing their minds. Accumulating 45 minutes in penalties in the final 21 minutes of play, the Bruins were (easily) goaded into the instigating ways of Kaleta and company.
(We now interrupt this blog for a Kaleta rant...)
Teams have instigators. Fans love instigators. The Bruins are no exception, especially when you look at Boston's love affair with
Brad Marchand, but at the end of the day, Kaleta is by miles the biggest stooge when it comes to finding those pesky 'rats' of the league.
After getting his behind beat by
Milan Lucic, Kaleta (bloody nose and all) pumped the crowd at First Niagara Center up. OK. I understand the sentiment behind such a gesture, Kaleta showing more heart than any of his teammates did after Lucic barreled over Miller back in Nov., but Kaleta did it once again after a pathetic turtle when faced off with McQuaid.
A sad display if there ever was one, Kaleta wanted nothing to do when faced off in a one-on-one situation with the 6-foot-4 Boston defensemen. This, of course in typical Kaleta fashion, was until teammate
Mike Weber jumped into the fray. Then he really wanted to let McQuaid have it! But when
Andrew Ference came in to pull Weber out of the picture, Kaleta went back to his role as Yertle the Turtle...until the referee was between him and McQuaid.
Then Kaleta, the toughest man in the world, returned to form. And he pumped the crowd up once again! Now, once again, I get it: You're a hockey player whose job is to generate energy, from your bench or from the crowd.
But how can one be satisfied with such an act of cowardice to the point where they want to be applauded? No, strike that, they want a standing ovation!
(Okay, back to your regularly scheduled program...)
Beyond the agitation, tonight was a terrible night for the Bruins. In every way possible. The six-goal loss is Boston's worst since an 8-2 loss to the Maple Leafs back in March 2008, and the sinking play of one Finnish-born netminder is becoming slightly concerning. To say the least.
With the loss, Rask's losing streak has been extended to an unheard of four straight games. Beginning the year with a three-game losing skid, the fourth straight loss marks the first time Rask's dropped four in a row since...well, you know when. Over those four games, Rask's allowed 13 goals on just 96 shots faced.
In front of the goaltender(s), it was yet another night to forget for some Boston defensemen. Among the list of culprits, Boston blue-liners
Johnny Boychuk,
Zdeno Chara, and
Dennis Seidenberg each finished with minus-3 ratings on the night, while
Joe Corvo's absurdly ill-timed turnover behind the net led to the Sabres' sixth goal.
The lone good news on the night?
Shawn Thornton was the lone B's forward to end the night with an even rating, and was perhaps the only Bruin goin' full-tilt on each shift. Yikes.
Boston's back at it on Saturday afternoon when they play host to the Nashville Predators.
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