BOSTON — The Bruins have played extra hockey in their past four games with each of the contests needing overtime or the shootout to declare the winner.
In three of the four games, Boston has come away without securing the extra point, including the 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden on Tuesday night.
The Bruins were the stronger team for most of the game, outshooting and outhitting the Wild 43-30 and 30-21 respectively.
“Terrible loss. I’m pissed we should have won this game,” David Pastrnak told reporters after the loss. “Especially, they’re on (the tail end of) a back-to-back. We were the better team. Credit to them they stuck with it. They got the win. Tough loss for us.”
Pastrnak scored two goals in the loss giving the Bruins the 2-1 lead at the end of the first period on spectacular passes from John Beecher and Pavel Zacha. The Czechnia native registered 11 shots on goal over 22:41 minutes of ice time to lead all forwards.
“I’m not frustrated,” Pastrnak said of his game. “Obviously, I had plenty of looks … it’s a positive for me. If I get the looks that means I’m doing something right.”
Pastrnak added: “The NHL is the best league in the world. You have good goaltenders, especially a guy like (Marc-Andre) Fleury. He made helluva saves and kept them in the game. I could’ve ended the game a couple of times. I didn’t. He made the saves and kept them in it. Credit to them.”
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery noticed the impact Pastrnak had on the ice throughout the game with the return of Pavel Zacha to the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury.
“I think the biggest thing is that (Pastrnak’s) become more of a playmaker, not just a shooter, not just looking to get open,” Montgomery told reporters. “He still gets open. Tonight was more Pasta-like of what we saw last year with how many one-timers he had.”
Boston gave up two Minnesota goals less than two minutes apart but Brad Marchand tied the game with 1:06 remaining to force overtime. Montgomery wasn’t pleased with the Bruins’ play three-on-three. Boston gave up a three-on-one with Kirill Kaprizov potting the game-winner at 2:54 of OT.
“I don’t like the shot selection and I don’t like both guys going to the net going all the way to the goal line. That’s what gives up the three-on-one the other way,” Montgomery explained. “In three-on-three our game management wasn’t great. We had full possession and we lost it.”
Here are more notes from Tuesday’s Bruins-Wild game:
— The Bruins’ fourth line of John Beecher, Jakub Lauko and Oskar Steen had a combined eight hits in the game with Beecher collecting an assist on Pastrnak’s first goal.
“I thought Beecher had a couple of huge hits, made a great play using his athletic ability and skating set up Pasta on that first goal. They had a big impact for us,” Montgomery said.
— Linus Ullmark made 26 saves on 30 Minnesota shots in the loss and took responsibility after the game.
“I’m letting in too many goals,” Ullmark told reporters after the loss, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Can’t do that as many times as I’ve done that now. It’s very frustrating. Obviously, it’s not something you want to do.”
— The Bruins will not have to wait long to look for revenge against the Wild. The two clubs meet on Saturday night in Minnesota.
— The Bruins are back in action on Friday night when they travel to Winnipeg for a matchup with the Jets. Puck drop from Canada Life Centre is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, and you can catch all the action, plus an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.
