Searching for extra point, Bruins get caught with too many men
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For those that are unaware of some of the unfortunate bounces in the Bruins’ 94-year history, Google “Too many men Bruins.”
At the very top of the first page, you’ll see the infamous too many men penalty from the third period of Game 7 of the Bruins-Canadiens Stanley Cup semifinals at the old Montreal Forum that led directly to Guy Lafleur tying the game at 3-3 before Yvon Lambert’s overtime heroics. Scroll down the screen and you’ll also find the too many men penalty from the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals series against the Flyers that led to Simon Gagne’s clinching goal and the Bruins blowing a 3-0 series lead.
Following Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Rangers, Google will very well be refreshing the search result for “Too many men Bruins.”
Not only did the Bruins get caught with the bench minor in the third period of a 2-2 hockey game, but also in the extra session. They were able to hold the Rangers off the board on their first opportunity following too many men. The second time, however, was a different story.
The most frustrating thing for the Bruins out of all this? They came back from two goals down and had the Rangers – playing their second game of a back to back and sixth in nine nights – right where they wanted them.
“Last 10 minutes, we didn’t let them do anything and then in OT it’s 50-50 – same like shootouts. We had a 2-on-1 and unfortunately, it didn’t work, and then we hit their stick and they went 2-on-1 and then it started,” said David Pastrnak, who assisted on Brad Marchand’s tying goal at 5:38 of the third period. “Obviously, we made a tough change and it hurt us today, and we need to be aware of it next time.”
Had the Bruins been aware on Saturday, things might have gone differently. Instead, they’ll be dissecting what went wrong when watching the film from Saturday’s contest.
Heck, had Marchand shot the puck on a 2-on-1 attempt moments before the second too many men call, the Bruins might have pulled out the come from behind victory. Instead, he didn’t connect on a backdoor play and the Rangers went 2-on-1 the other way.
“It’s tough to have calls like that, but it’s hockey and it’s part of the game. We don’t want to give them up, especially in OT,” Marchand said. “But that one is on me. I should’ve shot that [on the 2-on-1] instead of trying to make a play backdoor and then it goes the other way and we get a too many men [call] and they score. So that’s a tough choice.”
The chaos only got worse. A miscommunication between the OT trio of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Torey Krug with the second unit of Pastrnak, David Krejci and Charlie McAvoy forced the refs to blow the whistle and penalize the Bruins 1:05 into the extra session.
Fifty-one seconds later, Mats Zuccarello found plenty of space and snipped the game-winner past Tuukka Rask to give the Broadway Blueshirts their seventh straight win over the Black and Gold.
“All three were scrambling to get on the ice. The call might have been from McAvoy jumping for Krug or it might have been Krech going for Bergy, so I don’t know,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said about the chain of events.
“I can’t complain, we’re trying to gain an advantage there and sometimes you get away from it and sometimes you don’t. We didn’t. And the other one was on the power play and we had a forward jump for the wrong guy and we had six guys. It’s hard to complain about them. We were at fault there, and we’ll take the blame for that. Unfortunately, it’s a lousy way to lose, but we had some chances there in overtime.”
A lousy way to lose, and another lousy time for Bruins fans to go on Google.