In Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Lightning in Tampa on Saturday, the Bruins’ Milan Lucic submitted a nightmare shift at the worst time. With the score tied at three inside the third period, a series of Lucic errors snowballed and resulted in Simon Gagne’s winning objective.
When Gagne entered the proper corner to track the rebound of a Teddy Purcell shot, Lucic went immediately after him, which resulted in a slack defensive formation as an alternative to the pack-it-in setup necessary on such plays.
So when the rebound of Gagne’s shot skittered out to Victor Hedman, Lucic wasn’t in location to fill the lane and get in front of the defenseman. Instead, Hedman’s blast rocketed off Tomas Kaberle’s left leg.
“With Hedman having that chance, as a winger, you need to quit in my position,’’ Lucic said yesterday. “I didn’t do that.’’
It was only Lucic’s 1st mistake. Immediately after the puck caromed off Kaberle, Lucic settled it and began the breakout. He saw Nathan Horton and David Krejci open within the neutral zone. But Lucic in no way spotted Tampa Bay’s Ryan Malone, who picked off the left wing’s pass and broke the other way.
Lucic capped off the shift from hell having a final mistake.
Dennis Seidenberg was playing Malone one-on-one and was ready to steer him to the outside. But Lucic, angry with himself for his poor pass, chased Malone as opposed to going to the front of the net. So when Malone’s shot deflected off Seidenberg’s stick and landed on Gagne’s blade, Lucic was nowhere in sight to assist out. It was only a formality that Gagne buried his shot at 6:54 to create it 4-3, plus the Lightning tacked on an empty-netter for a 5-3 triumph, tying the series at two games apiece.
“I saw two guys open within the neutral zone there. I didn’t see Malone,’’ Lucic said of his giveaway. “Obviously, it was expensive. It was like I was attempting too challenging to create up for my mistake. If I would have just stopped in front in my position, I wouldn’t have left a two-on-one correct in front of the net. Errors occur. Games are won and lost on small errors like that. I do not desire to believe an excessive amount of about it. I just would like to be ready to play going into the next game so the identical factor doesn’t take place.’’
When the Bruins convened at TD Garden yesterday for a video session in anticipation of tonight’s Game five, Lucic and fellow first-liners Krejci and Horton didn’t see significantly they liked. In Game three, Lucic and Krejci clicked early inside the initial period with Krejci scoring to give the Bruins the winning objective in a 2-0 victory.