Well, it’s Boston again. The last time I recapped a Boston game, we blew a lead in the third period. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again.

Tyler Bertuzzi is taking Luke Glendening’s place in the lineup today, and it’ll be interesting to see how much he plays.

I had to share this twitter reply to me from our very own Lauren:

Here’s hoping to a good afternoon game!

First Period

Tyler Bertuzzi went down to block a shot very early on in the game and hobbled to the bench. Hopefully he’s ok.

The next shift, Mantha picked off a terrible Boston pass in the defensive zone, leading to a glorious scoring chance. After a nice deke, the puck rolled off the end of his stick blade before he could lift it past Rask.

Bertuzzi is back on the ice, so it looks like he wasn’t hurt too badly.

After 5 and a half minutes, shots are 2-2, and that reflects the game so far.

Nielsen’s hard backchecking helped to breakup what looked to be a dangerous scoring chance. Then, with just under ten minutes remaining in the first, Howard saved a long shot from the blue line. The rebound popped up high in the air, and Frk tried to glove it down. But he nearly batted it into his own net. Fortunately, he and Howard combined to keep it out.

Not too long later, Frk lost an edge and went heavily into the boards. The officials blew the play dead even though Boston had the puck, so that’s an idea of how bad it looked.

During the commercial break, he was able to get up, but he needed help off the ice. Fortunately, Jeff Blashill decided to dress an extra forward today.

Riley Nash should have put Boston up by a goal, but he missed a wide open rebound in the crease.

The puck is really bouncing today. It’s bounced over players’ sticks a lot today.

Booth goes off for slashing, and at least you can say he earned it. He really whacked the Boston player. 20 seconds in Detroit gets called for too many men on the ice. Not really sure how this keeps happening, but it feels like we take one of these penalties a game.

Marchand makes it 1-0 after a really nice series of passes.

Less than a minute later, Nielsen ties it at one! Helm picks off a pass at center ice and shovels it to Nielsen, who carries it over the blue line, then pulls it back to his forehand and wrists one by Rask for Detroit’s league-leading 7th shorthanded goal this season.

With 3 minutes left, it’s looking like a repeat of the Islanders game in terms of shots, as Detroit is tied 1-1, but trailing in shots 10-4.

Dylan Larkin nearly made it 2-1 with a minute left off a nice feed from Abdelkader, but he couldn’t sneak it past Rask on the short side.

At the end of the first, the score remains 1-1. Boston had the better of play, and Detroit is lucky to not be trailing.

And man oh man, they really need to fix these line changes.

Second Period

Detroit starts off the period with some jump, creating a scoring chance in close on Rask and hacking away at the rebound.

Kronwall set up Booth for a wide open shot, but he couldn’t beat Rask.

WOW! It looked like Boston would tie the game, but somehow a sprawling Howard kept it out.

A few minutes later, Howard robs Tim Schaller. I know people won’t believe this, but Detroit is giving up a lot of high danger chances, and Howard is keeping them in the game.

Man, this is the period of almost goals. Zetterberg went behind the net and fed Nyquist. Goose chipped the puck through Rask, but Chara got it just before it got to the goal line.

Bertuzzi missed the net off a gorgeous pass from Frans Nielsen. Just before that, Nyquist set up Zetterberg, but the captain tried to pass to Mantha, which was covered by the Boston defense rather than shooting. It was normally the right play to pass there, but he didn’t have a good look.

Boston takes a penalty, and Detroit goes to the power play. Torey Krug goes to the box for hooking.

Detroit had good zone time on the power play, but their most dangerous chance was a Tatar one-timer near the end of the man advantage that Chara blocked. Too much set up and not enough shooting.

Shortly after, Detroit gets in some icing practice.

Anthony Mantha gets away with a blatant interference call, and I’m not sure I know what interference is anymore.

Note: The article editor deleted what I had written for the rest of the period. Patrice Bergeron took a penalty with 30 seconds left in the period, but Detroit couldn’t get anything going on the power play. The period ends 1-1

Third Period

Not only can Detroit not get set up on the power play, Boston gets a three on two the other way. Fortunately, it falls apart before Boston can get a chance.

Helm goes wide and throws a pass to the middle. It was a good idea, but the puck gets deflected and allows Boston to head the other way. Backes gets it to Bergeron out of the box, who passes back to Backes for a backhand that looked like it went in, but it hit the outside of the net.

Pastrnak makes a series of nifty moves, but Howard keeps the puck out. Brad Marchand Marchand’s Daley, hitting him in the head in the goal mouth. The officials say that’s fine.

A minute later, Bergeron scores after Pastrnak got the puck to Marchand entering the Detroit zone. Marchand fed Bergeron, who beat Howard. Detroit looked terrible on the play, giving Bergeron a wide open shot.

Larkin specifically was late getting back, giving Marchand more time than he should have had.

Bertuzzi has played a really strong game today. He’s been noticeable much of the time he’s been on the ice, and almost always for a positive reason.

The arena fills with the sound of “Toooooo-ka” as he makes a save on Nyquist with just under three minutes to play. Detroit’s been pushing hard this period, but they haven’t gotten too many high quality scoring chances.

With the net empty, Detroit nearly tied the game, with a feed from Zetterberg hitting Tatar’s skate in front and nearly re-directing in with 30 seconds left.

And it’s all over. Bergeron scores in the empty net. 3-1 Bruins.

How do I feel about losing to Boston again?