For Bruins, a half-second made all the difference
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A few observations, recollections, and shots high off the glass following the Bruins’ stunning 2-1 loss to the Kings with 0.4 seconds remaining in overtime Saturday night at TD Garden.
■ Not a bad game for 64 minutes and a touch more than 59 seconds. Then an ending scripted for the theater of the absurd.
Consider: From the time the puck was dropped, followed by Anze Kopitar snatching it cleanly from David Pastrnak on his backhand, followed by Tyler Toffoli ripping it on net, followed by the distance the puck traveled (approximately 20 feet) . . . all of that took an elapsed time of 0.5 seconds.
If a half-second can be categorized as “elapsed.’’
“Can you even drop [the puck] and win it 0.9?’’ wondered Boston coach Bruce Cassidy, noting the time on the clock when the puck was dropped by the linesman to initiate the faceoff. “There’s a lot of questions there that I guess you could look at.’’
To dwell on it, said the coach, would sound like whining. Correctly, he felt the goal should have been prevented, be it by one of the two forwards, either Anders Bjork or Pastrnak, the defenseman Torey Krug, or goalie Tuukka Rask.
“If someone told you before that someone could score in 0.9 seconds, drop the puck, win it, and shoot it . . . you’d probably say, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know,’ ’’ offered Cassidy. “I mean, boy, it’s tough . . . I’m not sure you could do it again if you tried it 100 times with no players on the ice.’’
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■ As stunning endings go, the loss was right there with Joe Thornton’s last act in a Boston uniform, Nov. 29, 2005, at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.
With 32 seconds on the clock, in a faceoff to goalie Andrew Raycroft’s right, Jumbo Joe was hosed on a drop by the pesky Devils center John Madden. Crafty Russian Alex Mogilny then slid it under Raycroft for the 3-2 winner.
Elapsed time: one second. Twice the time it took for the Saturday night’s soul-crusher.
Less than 24 hours later, then GM Mike O’Connell dished Thornton to San Jose for Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart, and Wayne Primeau.
Raycroft was traded to Toronto the following June for the rights to Rask. New GM Peter Chiarelli dismissed coach Mike Sullivan that summer and brought in Dave Lewis to run the bench.
■ He finished the night with a lone assist, but rookie blueliner Charlie McAvoy submitted another impressive night, logging a game-high 29:47 and nearly connecting twice in overtime off of Brad Marchand feeds.
By contrast, minutes monster Zdeno Chara finished with 20:45 TOI.
McAvoy has been held off the scoresheet in only three of the club’s nine games.
■ Back on the job for the first time since Oct. 15, a 3-1 loss in Vegas, Rask was solid with 28 saves. Other than Rask’s opening night 4-3 win (still his only victory), the Bruins have scored only five goals in his other four starts.
“We’re having trouble getting run support for Tuukka right now,’’ Cassidysaid.
Rask, 1-3-1 with a substandard .894 save percentage, will make the start in Columbus. Of goalies to play in five games or more, Rask ranks 28th in save percentage.
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■ Late in the afternoon, in a news release, the Bruins announced that goalie Zane McIntyre was recalled on an emergency basis and will be the backup Monday night in Columbus.
■ His start this season impaired due to a fractured jaw, Krug had another bad night. He was picked off deep in his own zone for Toffoli’s first goal, the 1-1 equalizer in the first. And it was his unnecessary icing that led to the faceoff with 0.9 seconds to go.
On Sunday, amid a small media scrum, a Globe reporter asked Krug if he would have done anything differently on the faceoff.
“Probably take a penalty and then get Bergy in there,’’ offered Krug, referring to Patrice Bergeron, the club’s mainstay faceoff man. “I don’t know, it’s a bang-bang play, you can’t really do anything there. I mean it just happened so fast.’’
Apprised that Cassidy felt someone should have blocked it, Krug first laughed and said: “That’s his opinion then, I guess, I don’t know.’’
Krug’s -10 is the third worst in the league.
■ Pastrnak was eager to talk about anything other than his work on the final faceoff. He repeatedly said that he felt the club had a good game overall, and that now it’s time to talk abut the next game.
All from the playbook perfected in Foxborough.
“Normal faceoff,’’ Pastrnak said, when asked if the linesman dropped the puck faster than he expected. “I don’t know. I am telling you we had a good game overall, and it’s unfortunate we didn’t get two points. I think we deserved them. We need to keep focusing for another day.’’
The feeling in the building, among most of the 17,565 in attendance, was a sense of disbelief over the ending. The feeling on the ice among the Bruins?
“Obviously, it’s a lost game, and every game you lose it’s a bad feeling,’’ Pastrnak said. “But I think we had a strong game, and it can’t bring us down. . . . It’s just hockey, and hockey’s a fast game.’’
■ The Bruins went 2-0-2 in their four home games and played with a deficit for all of 31 seconds — the time they needed to pull into a 1-1 tie with Vancouver Oct. 19. They never trailed in their OT losses to Buffalo and Los Angeles.
■ As expected, injured center David Krejci did not travel to Columbus with the club Sunday and will miss his fourth straight game . . . The Bruins are down to six defensemen, but Cassidy said an extra blueliner will not be summoned from AHL Providence for the game against the Blue Jackets . . . Riley Nash, driven face-first into the boards Saturday, required a few stitches to his nose but did not suffer a concussion, Cassidy said . . . Vegas will make its first visit to the Garden in franchise history on Thursday, followed by the Caps on Saturday . . . Marchandpicked up his team-high seventh goal on Saturday, a pace that would deliver 64 goals over 82 games. The L’il Ball o’Hate scored a career-high 39 last season . . . The Rangers, Sabres, and Habs awoke Sunday a collective 9-21-5 for a .329 win percentage . . . Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off’’ was blaring on the Garden PA as the precede to the fatal 0.9 puck drop. Then LA hit ’em with their best shot. #patbenatar
