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Kalman: McQuaid's Mishap Summed Up Another Rough Night For Bruins

BOSTON (CBS) -- That dark cloud that seems to follow around Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid victimized the big blueliner again Sunday.

With the score tied 1-1 in the later stages of the first period, McQuaid tried to walk the blue line backwards with the puck and after a few strides he fell as though someone had stuck out a leg – but there was no one within 5 feet of him.

The Lightning turned the gaffe into a 2-on-0 breakaway and a Ryan Callahan goal for a 2-1 lead that led to a 4-1 Tampa Bay victory at TD Garden.

"Pretty much [a helpless feeling]," McQuaid said. "And then you're just hoping that somehow you get bailed out there. But it's a pretty tough spot to have that happen and you put guys in a pretty tough spot when you do that."

McQuaid put his teammates is a tough spot and the Lightning capitalized. He responded to the mistake by playing better the rest of the night and he was a minus-2 Corsi For, according to war-on-ice.com. However, McQuaid's teammates did little to make the defenseman's gaffe a footnote rather than a major incident in the battle between two teams that started the game tied for second place in the Atlantic Division.

The Bruins peppered Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop with 33 shots and had 62 shot attempts. But at the other end of the rink the Lightning were able to target 30 shots at Tuukka Rask and get four by him. Rask has now faced 30 or more shots in three straight games. Unlike Pittsburgh and Carolina, in Bruins wins, the Lightning were able to make Boston pay. Part of the reason for Tampa Bay's success was the easiness of their chances.

In addition to their 2-on-0 goal, the Lightning scored two goals on the power play. Their first power-play goal came after Zac Rinaldo took a needless penalty for hitting Cedric Paquette in the head. Then Anton Stralman gained the offensive zone with ease and set up Alex Killorn for a wrist shot from the left circle.

Callahan scored his second goal on a power-play tip of a Steven Stamkos shot with little resistance from the Bruins. And then Stamkos earned a penalty shot by taking advantage of a Joe Morrow giveaway and skating off on a breakaway. Brad Marchand opted to hit Stamkos with a forearm shiver to the head rather than let him go in alone on Rask.

"It happened I think because we were not having five guys working together on the ice," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said. "There are going to be some breakdowns. We had too many of those tonight. For sure we need to bounce back and correct those mistakes we had and bounce back next game."

Coach Claude Julien didn't want to blame the McQuaid mistake for turning the game in Tampa Bay's favor. Julien pointed toward the breakdowns that led to the Stamkos penalty shot and the penalties and even the Bruins' 0-for-6 power play.
McQuaid is a seven-year veteran and a valiant warrior. He does everything that's asked of him, is always willing to sacrifice his body and has missed his share of games over the years with various injuries, including several fluke ones. He had a serious health scare in 2012 with a blood clot. So one prat fall in the middle of the ice in front of 17,565 people isn't going to make his quit.

"Yeah I definitely feel like I've gotten a lot better with those things and being able to shake things off and just kind of, even when things are going well, just kind of putting things aside and getting refocused each shift, really," McQuaid said. "And that's kind of been a focus of mine, trying to really focus on that this year. So I've tried to park it and just move on and you can't change the past."

Although it wasn't the reason the Bruins lost, McQuaid's mishap was emblematic of how things have gone this season with so many new faces, many of them young defensemen. A road win in Dallas was followed by a home loss to Columbus. Wins against Pittsburgh and Carolina are followed by a home loss against Tampa Bay. The roller coaster just keeps on rocking and the Bruins only seem to improve in the smallest increments. They're not a bad team; they're just not even close to contenders. Everything that happens this season is meant to be a lesson for next season and beyond.

Had another Bruins player been in his position, McQuaid would've done everything in his power to make up for that teammate's mistake. The Bruins barely did that against Tampa Bay. Their effort was sufficient, but they didn't challenge their energy the right way and didn't execute enough at either end of the ice.

McQuaid's dark cloud had the whole team in the shade against the Lightning. If they don't break through with some sunshine the rest of this homestand, their hold on a playoff spot will be in trouble.

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.

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