Turnovers Doom Bruins In Loss To Senators [VIDEOS]
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Bruins had little to be thankful for on Thursday night in Ottawa, as their sloppy play with the puck proved to be their undoing in a 3-1 Thanksgiving night loss to the Senators.
Ottawa scored twice in a span of 3:48 in the third period, as defenseman Chris Wideman and centerman Kyle Turris took advantage of Bruins giveaways to hand the Bruins their second straight loss. The Senators actually had more giveaways than the Bruins on the night (13-9), but did a better job to capitalize on the opportunities presented by them.
On the Wideman goal, defenseman Torey Krug attempted to backhand the puck out of the Bruins' zone off a shot by the Sens' Derrick Brassard. Wideman pinched in on the attempted clear-out and fired a one-timer, which ricocheted off the shinpad of Dominic Moore and past Rask to put Ottawa up 2-1.
Less than four minutes later, David Krejci made an ill-advised no-look pass that ended up on the stick of Turris, who made a nifty give-and-go play to be set up by Bobby Ryan for the Sens' third goal of the game.
Tuukka Rask stopped just 23 of 26 shots in the game to fall to 11-4 on the season.
Patrice Bergeron admitted that the Senators were patient enough to wait for the Bruins into making mistakes and capitalized on the scoring chances they generated with their transition game.
"I think we played right into what they wanted," Bergeron told NHL.com's Eric Russo. "We gave them the turnovers that they wanted in the neutral zone and they capitalized on that. It's a team that thrives on that."
Head coach Claude Julien didn't want to take away from the Sens but nonetheless ripped the Bruins for their effort.
"As much as I'd like to give [Ottawa] credit for the neutral zone, I have to really blame ourselves for how poor we were with the puck," he said. "We've been a better team than that. It's disappointing that tonight, in an important game like this, we came out with probably one of our worst efforts in probably a month.
"I didn't like our game tonight, decision making, puck management. I would say there were a lot of no-shows as well. Those are things that can't happen in these kinds of games."
The Bruins are certainly feeling the effects of missing captain Zdeno Chara on the defense. The 39-year-old Chara's improvement over last year has not only helped the development and performance of rookie defenseman Brandon Carlo, but helped the Bruins' team defense as a whole. His absence has led to more carelessness with the puck and a significantly lesser net-front presence in their own end.
Chara remains doubtful for Friday night's game in Boston against the Calgary Flames with a lower-body injury.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
