GOLD STAR: Jaromir Jagr dusted off a little of his legendary magic and assisted on a pair of goals to help dump the Bruins, including the game-tying power play strike in the second period when it seemed like the B’s might take control of the game. The two helpers leave Jagr with fourth place all-time on the NHL scoring list with 1,800 points and was an extra little tweak to the Boston Bruins when it was the Czech legend that couldn’t come up with a play or two to help the Bruins take home the Stanley Cup over the Blackhawks back in 2013. Jagr had three shot attempts and a pair of blocked shots along with a plus-1 rating to go with the two helpers in 16:41 of ice time after a bit of a slow start to the game.
BLACK EYE: Plenty of blame to go around in this one. Reilly Smith was a minus-2 with just one shot on net and virtually imploded with a series of mistakes on one power play possession, Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson were MIA for the entire game, Tuukka Rask gave up a couple of preventable goals and then took a weird too many men on the ice penalty when he played a puck as he was getting pulled for the extra skater. Dennis Seidenberg had an awful turnover on a sloppy, ill-advised pass in the D-zone that turned into Jimmy Hayes’ back-breaking goal from the slot. And the list goes on and on. Adam McQuaid, Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug, Brad Marchand, Zach Trotman and Zdeno Chara were among a number of B’s players that came ready to play, but there were many others that just didn’t cut it in the most important game of the year.
TURNING POINT: The Bruins were tied 1-1 after the second period and seemed to be in a pretty good place, but they were outscored 3-1 in the third period while outshooting the Panthers by a 17-9 margin if you can figure that one out. It was an unraveling in a lot of different areas as the Patrice Bergeron line was on the ice for a pair of goals against, Tuukka Rask gave up a couple of softy goals, mistakes allowed the Panthers to counter-attack when it appeared the Bruins might rally behind a Brad Marchand goal and just about everything that’s always worked for the Black and Gold in the past wasn’t able to get it done anymore. It was a pretty stark scene in the B’s dressing room for a handful of disappointed B’s players that talked about the sobering loss after it was all over.
HONORABLE MENTION: Jimmy Hayes might have given the Bruins the death blow for their 2015 season when he picked up a rough Dennis Seidenberg turnover in the D-zone, and then smoked a wrist shot past Tuukka Rask for the fourth goal to widen a slim 3-2 lead for the Panthers in the third period. It was Hayes’ fifth shot on net of the night, and continued a series of very strong games for the Boston boy against the Bruins this season. Hayes also scored the only goal for Florida in their shootout win over the Bruins last month in Florida that could end up being an extremely important point to the B’s when it’s all said and done.
BY THE NUMBERS: 4 – the number of shots on goal for a Chris Kelly/Carl Soderberg/Loui Eriksson line that was thoroughly invisible for the entirety of the game. Soderberg and Eriksson looked like major passengers in this one. Ghost city.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We've been a proud group that’s always wanted to do things on our own. Now we're looking for help.” –Chris Kelly, in full understanding of the situation that they need help from the Penguins and Senators over the next couple of days to keep their playoff hopes alive.