“You’re speechless like I am, right?’’ said coach Claude Julien as he started his postgame media briefing, his club now 0-6-4 in its last 10. He later added, “I guess it’s to the point you dread to be in the shootout.’’
For all their futility, the hapless Bruins again looked slightly better and, as in Thursday night’s shootout loss to Montreal, again held a 2-0 lead. For most clubs, blowing a 2-0 lead would be considered just another layer of frustration, a damning fault in their execution. But for the Bruins, the weakest-scoring team in the Original 30, a two-goal lead is at least a sign that their offensive game might one of these days come out of hibernation, allowing them to fantasize that one day they might even (we said fantasize) win another game.
The weirdest (cruelest?) twist yesterday came on Vancouver’s tying goal with 4:42 remaining in regulation, moments after Sami Salo broke his stick on a slapper high above the right circle. In that flash of a broken stick, it appeared the Canucks’ mounting pressure was off and the Bruins would transition the puck out and maintain their 2-1 lead.
Unh-uh.
Instead, after Milan Lucic missed his chance to chop it out of the zone, Tanner Glass hammered a desperation slapper toward the net, where a top-of-the-crease tip by Demitra sent the tying goal by Rask (still winless in calendar year 2010).
“I wasn’t expecting that kind of thing,’’ said Rask, who again played well, turning back 29 shots, including 17 in the third period when the Canucks ratcheted up their attack. “He beat me on the blocker side. That’s the kind of goal you get when you shoot the puck. We don’t, though.’’
