Boston Bruins coach calls loss to Senators self-inflicted: ‘We weren’t good enough’….
The Boston Bruins beat two strong teams in the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers after they traded Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle and Brandon Carlo.
But they couldn’t do the same against the Ottawa Senators and fell to the Wild Card leaders, 6-3, on Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre.
“We just weren’t good enough. And most of the facets of the first period — our execution wasn’t quite there,“ interim coach Joe Sacco told reporters. ”We weren’t sharp, our passing was off. And because of that, they got us back on our heels, and then they took the play to us in the first period.”
Boston allowed four goals on 15 shots in the first period.
“I think a lot of it was self-inflicted,” Sacco said. “I think our decisions with the puck at times weren’t accurate. We needed to reduce the risk of how we were handling the puck, and we didn’t do a good enough job of that.”
The Bruins settled down a bit in the second and third period, but it was too little, too late and couldn’t find a way to come back as they did against the Panthers on Tuesday night.
“I think it’s hard when you start chasing games, and you start chasing offense, you tend to open up areas of your game that you don’t want to,” Sacco said. “And so it’s a little bit of a high-risk game at that point. It’s not really the hockey that we want to play, but that’s what happens when they’re in that situation.”
A bright spot for the Bruins, though, was Casey Mittelstadt. The forward — who was acquired by Boston in a trade that sent Coyle to the Colorado Avalanche — scored his first goal since joining his new team. Mittelstadt now has three points in as many games.
“I think he continues to improve each game, and he’s getting more comfortable with how we play within our systems,” Sacco said. “And you can see that his skill can take over at times.”
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“We just weren’t good enough. And most of the facets of the first period — our execution wasn’t quite there,“ interim coach Joe Sacco told reporters. ”We weren’t sharp, our passing was off. And because of that, they got us back on our heels, and then they took the play to us in the first period.”
Boston allowed four goals on 15 shots in the first period.
“I think a lot of it was self-inflicted,” Sacco said. “I think our decisions with the puck at times weren’t accurate. We needed to reduce the risk of how we were handling the puck, and we didn’t do a good enough job of that.”
The Bruins settled down a bit in the second and third period, but it was too little, too late and couldn’t find a way to come back as they did against the Panthers on Tuesday night.
“I think it’s hard when you start chasing games, and you start chasing offense, you tend to open up areas of your game that you don’t want to,” Sacco said. “And so it’s a little bit of a high-risk game at that point. It’s not really the hockey that we want to play, but that’s what happens when they’re in that situation.”
A bright spot for the Bruins, though, was Casey Mittelstadt. The forward — who was acquired by Boston in a trade that sent Coyle to the Colorado Avalanche — scored his first goal since joining his new team. Mittelstadt now has three points in as many games.
“I think he continues to improve each game, and he’s getting more comfortable with how we play within our systems,” Sacco said. “And you can see that his skill can take over at times.”
BETTING: Check out our MA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.
