Second period quick hits

– As mentioned in the first period quick hits, this is the last time the Bruins face the second game of a back to back this season. It’s clear that the second game of the 16th back to back this year is catching up to them, again. The B’s are fighting fatigue after their win yesterday against the Rangers, and it might come back to haunt them. Former Boston College standout Nathan Gerbe scored his eighth of the season and tied things up at 1-1 with a late second period tally.

– The second started off with a very strong penalty kill. It ended with little offense, defensive zone breakdowns and more questions as the two teams head to their respective dressing rooms.

Second period stats

– How much can that late second period tally come back to haunt the Bruins? When allowing a goal in the last two minutes of a period, the Bruins are 2-12-5. Somehow, they’ll need to get it together for the third period.

– The good news for the Black and Gold? The Senators trail the Panthers 2-0 after the second period in Ottawa. The B’s currently have a one point lead on the Sens and a four point lead on the Panthers. Jaromir Jagr, Shawn Thornton and company visit Boston Tuesday night.

First period quick hits

– After leaving Saturday’s game against the Rangers due to dehydration, Tuukka Rask got enough fluids in him and got the nod to start against the Hurricanes in Raleigh. So far, the reigning Vezina winner has been tested on a few instances and he’s done quite fine making eight first period saves.

– In today’s preview fellow Bruins Daily colleague Chris Chirichiello mentioned that the Bruins needed to get off to another quick start following their win over the Rangers more than 24 hours ago. They did just that as Ryan Spooner notched his seventh of the season off a nice feed from David Pastrnak to give the Black and Gold a 1-0 lead. Adam McQuaid notched the secondary assist.

Very interesting stat about Spooner from Chris Abraham of Stanley Cup of Chowder:

Since his callup, Ryan Spooner now leads the Bruins in goals and points, with 7 and 15 respectively. Hes been solid.

— Chris Abraham (@CrzyCanucklehed) March 29, 2015

– Milan Lucic did a good job driving to the net to distract former Bruin Anton Khudobin and the Canes D and that gave Spooner some space to work with. Sure, he had two goals yesterday, but Lucic contributed in other areas as well as he skated hard, threw his body around and provided the Black and Gold with energy. When his motor is going, the Vancouver-born power forward gives the B’s a big boost and he’s doing just that again so far.

– For the most part, the Bruins are dominating play, but they haven’t been able to finish. This was the same problem they had against the Sabres, and it came back to haunt them. As good as they looked in the opening 20, they’ll need to seal their scoring chances and light the lamp a few more times, otherwise history might repeat itself.

– The Bruins’ are finishing their 16th and final stretch of back to back games this season. Tuesday’s game against the Panthers will mark the last instance where the Black and Gold play three games in four nights.

First period stats

– Both teams are 0-for-1 on the power play

– Bruins have a 10-8 shots on goal advantage

– When scoring the first goal, the Bruins are 26-8-5. Hurricanes are 8-28-4  and are 27th in points percentage when trailing after 20.