Bruins fall to visiting Ducks, 6-1

After resigning their young star left winger Milan Lucic, sustaining a weekend blowout of Carolina and taking an authoritative, 1-0, first period lead over Anaheim, the Boston Bruins were riding momentum on all fronts.

But in the span of 82 seconds, Teemu Selanne undid what felt like all of it.

First, defenseman Matt Hunwick was carted off for interference at the 1:14 mark. Fifty-two seconds later, right winger Marco Sturm followed suit, this time for hooking. Selanne took advantage and changed the mood of the short season, sparking a 6-1 win for the Anaheim Ducks Thursday night at the TD Garden

With a 5-3 man-advantage, the leading active career goal scorer netted his signature slap shot off a kick-out from defenseman Scott Niedermayer, who ranked third in assists among NHL defenseman last year. Then with the 5-on-4 advantage, Selanne saw a broken play come back to him for his second goal of the game.

From there, the game snowballed through a series of solo Anaheim breakaways.

‘We’re making it way too easy for teams,’ Bruins (1-2-0) coach Claude Julienne said. ‘We lost faces, we lost battles. They got lucky bounces but when you work hard you get those lucky bounces.’

The Ducks, who entered the game 0-1-1, weathered a 30-17 first and second period shot disadvantage to keep themselves in it, but caught their break early in the second. The Bruins controlled most of the first period and a half, keeping the puck in the offensive end for repeated shots on goal.

At the 16:33 mark, left winger Marco Sturm gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead after outracing three Anaheim defenders to an open spot on the right circle. With no one near the net to rebound, Sturm rifled a blistering slap shot that beat goaltender Jonas Hiller fivehole.

‘We had good control of the whole first period,’ left wing Steve Begin said.

After Selanne’s strikes, that control had vanished, and right wing Corey Perry padded his stats in wake of its absence.

With 6:58 left in the second, Perry moved left to right through the Ducks’ zone. Perry set his sights on positioning himself for a straight shot, deking around Bruins defenders as he went. And when he did, there was nothing but ice in front him-he buried the shot.

‘We need to go back basics,’ center Patrice Bergeron said. ‘We didn’t show up and I don’t think our fans deserve this.’

Giving up six goals is uncharacteristic for a Bruins defense that was the only unit in the league to allow less than 200 goals last season. But the late onslaught may have had more to do with an offense that sold out its defense in an attempt to crawl back with a few big offensive rushes.

‘When guys do a little too much to make things happen, it’s necessarily the best way to go about it but it shows guys care,’ Bruins forward Shawn Thornton said. ‘We were taking some chances, when you’re down by a couple and don’t bury those chances those go the other way.’

Ducks right winger Evgeny Artyukhin also got in on the action. After blowing past the defensive zone, he took a trail of three Bruins to the net to witness Anaheim’s fourth
goal.

‘That’s not our team,’ veteran center Marc Savard said. ‘Everyone knows our team. When we get down, we keep fighting.’

After right winger Bobby Ryan redirected Niedermayer’s drive for the fifth goal, Corey Perry skated through everyone for the sixth, an attempt that served as a microcosm for the night.

Perry’s first chance was turned away. But the rebound glanced off his helmet and went it.

‘We’ve got grit and leaders. Nobody wants to lose, everybody wants to win,’ Wheeler said. ‘But we just didn’t do it today.’
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