Cruel.
“I can’t say I’m disappointed with the way we played,’’ coach Claude Julien said. “But definitely disappointed with the outcome.
“I thought we played well enough to give ourselves a chance to win. This is one of those nights throughout the course of a season where you lose a hockey game only because the other team got one extra bounce going their way.
“Both goals were loose pucks right behind Timmy [Thomas]. We hit a post there at the end hoping to get back into the game. I definitely have to take the positives out of that game and work with that.’’
With less than two minutes remaining, the Devils busted a 1-1 tie and scored the winning goal with some lunchpail work in the danger areas. After Thomas (30 saves) stopped a shot by Jamie Langenbrunner, Zach Parise outmuscled Zdeno Chara behind the net to win the puck battle.
Parise slid it to Dainius Zubrus, who then dished it to Langenbrunner for another shot. Again, Thomas got a piece of Langenbrunner’s shot. But the puck dribbled through his pads, and Zubrus barreled into the crease and whacked the shot home at 18:34.
“It was bouncing all over the place,’’ said Thomas.
In the second, after the Devils killed off a Bryce Salvador tripping penalty, the Bruins scored their lone goal. Chara unloaded a slap shot from the right circle that shattered the blade of Johnny Oduya’s stick. The puck skittered to Marco Sturm, who knew that Patrice Bergeron and Michael Ryder were behind him in the slot. Sturm backhanded a pass to Bergeron, who buried his fourth goal at 2:32.
“He’s been our best forward. By far,’’ said Julien of Bergeron, who led the Boston forwards with 19:56 of ice time, landed four shots, and won 9 of 18 faceoffs. “He’s been our best and most consistent forward.
“When you talk about ups and downs, he’s been as good and consistent as you could ever ask. He’s had a great year. He’s playing extremely well. He’s very reliable. That goal he scored tonight was deserving because of his play.’’
