It was too little, too late for the Boston Bruins in Tuesday night's Original Six showdown with the Detroit Red Wings.
The Bruins fell 2-1 despite outshooting the Red Wings 42-16 at TD Garden. David Pastrnak scored the equalizer on a 5-on-3 in the third period, but Marc Staal came through with his first goal of the season to seal the win for Detroit.
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Here are three quick takeaways from the Bruins' loss, which brings them to 11-8-0 on the campaign. Next up is a trip to Nashville to face the Predators on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.
Brad Marchand's absence is glaring
The Bruins sure are going to miss Brad Marchand until the star winger returns from his three-game suspension. Without their leading scorer, they couldn't get much of anything going offensively other than Pastrnak's late 5-on-3 goal.
Their whopping 42 shots on goal are a bit misleading as the B's struggled to find high-quality shots for the majority of the contest. Without Marchand, Boston simply couldn't come through no matter how much Detroit's defense begged it to. This is the kind of game the Bruins win handily with their best player on their ice. Not having head coach Bruce Cassidy on the bench due to COVID-19 protocols probably didn't help either.
Besides Pastrnak, the only Bruin with a notable performance was Taylor Hall. The veteran winger contributed four pucks on net and assisted on Pastrnak's goal.
Bruins defense does its part
The only real bright spot in this one for the B's was their defensive effort. Limiting the Red Wings to a mere 16 shots gave them every opportunity to steal a win despite missing Marchand and Cassidy.
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Unfortunately for Boston, it was no match for Alex Nedeljkovic. The Detroit goaltender stopped 41 of Boston's 42 shots, outperforming Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark (14 saves on 16 shots). The only puck that went past Nedeljkovic came on a 5-on-3 B's advantage.
Boos for Jake DeBrusk
DeBrusk took the ice for the Bruins after requesting a trade, and the TD Garden crowd responded with boos as soon as the 25-year-old winger received the puck in the first period.
It's been a rocky three years for DeBrusk in Boston, but it certainly was a bit off-putting to hear boos for a player who has given his best when he's taken the ice. Unfortunately for him, it looks like his B's tenure will come to an unceremonious end.
DeBrusk finished with one shot on goal in 10:25 time on ice.