Ineffective Third Period Dooms Red Wings Vs. Bruins

It will not be the sizzling shot Moritz Seider rang off the cross bar with 29.5 seconds left that will make it difficult for Detroit Red Wings to find restful sleep tonight.

It will be their poor execution in the third period that may cause them to toss and turn.

Entering the third period tied 1-1 with shots on goal almost even, the Bruins out-shot Detroit 13-4 in the final 20 minutes and won the game 2-1. The game-winner came on a perfect shot by Brad Marchand with 8:30 left in regulation.

“Probably pretty even game,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “But just our ability to not sustain some momentum with some of our turnovers there in the third and ultimately the game winner is going to be a bad turnover.”

Vladimir Tarasenko doesn’t get the puck out of zone and it comes to Marchand who snipes the puck into the top corner for the game-winner.

“We ice the puck there and then they get a faceoff goal, which has been an area of emphasis for us to not give up those goals,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “And we did and that’s the difference. And crossbars are crossbars. But you gotta create good bounces for yourself and drive the net. And I thought we did enough of that to get rewarded. Just didn’t come tonight. “

But it wasn’t only that play.

The Red Wings lost 55% of the faceoffs in this game, and that included some important ones in the third period. They also struggled to push the puck out of their zone in the third, especially early in the period.

“Our inability probably to manage the puck there in the third,” Lalonde said. “We just couldn’t get out of our zone. When we’re moving north or out of our zone, we’re a good team. It didn’t so much hurt us a ton until it did. I know it sounds crazy, but puck’s on our stick in the slot. We turned over the point a few seconds later in the back of our net. So we had a pretty good game going through the first 30, first two periods.

Bruins Climb Into Third

This was a game the Red Wings needed to even their record and to make sure they stay close in the Eastern Conference wild card race. The win pushed Boston into third place in the Atlantic Division with 22 points, dropping Tampa Bay into the second wild card spot with 21 points. The Red Wings (8-10-2) are four points behind Tampa Bay with four teams between them.

Larkin said the Red Wings didn’t get out of their zone “clean enough” in the third period.

“We didn’t hang on to pucks in the O-zone well enough and we didn’t get to . . .,” Larkin said, his words trailing off. ” They did a good job blocking and fronting shots, but we didn’t get second and third opportunities around (Boston goalie Jeremy) Swayman. I think we gotta find more pucks and make it harder like we have in the last week or so.”

The loss might sting more because the Red Wings, stressing defense since the start of training camp, have surrendered three goals over two games and only picked up two points. Lucas Raymond had tied the game 1-1 with a goal with less than a minute left in the first period. But they couldn’t find any scoring after that.

“You give up two at home, you get four power plays, you should give yourself a chance,” Lalonde said, “do enough in a tight game to flip this type of game. “