On Black Friday, typically a festive and fun day in downtown Boston, especially around Causeway Street, the Bruins went dark in the third period and pulled a black cloud over TD Garden.
After twice booting away one-goal leads, in the opening and middle periods, Bruce Cassidy’s charges allowed Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere to score in a span of less than five minutes in the third, committing costly breakdowns that allowed the Rangers to rhumba to a 5-2 victory and prevent the Bruins from possibly moving into wild-card playoff position.
On a day when the Bruins reported their 500th consecutive sellout (current figure: 17,850), they fell victim to some costly, uncharacteristic defensive no-shows.
With 12 seconds left on the clock, the afternoon’s signature moment before a national TV audience was a testy Panarin yanking off one of his gloves and firing it at Brad Marchand as the dismayed Li’l Ball o’ Hate stood at the end of the Boston bench.
“Ah, we were asking each other how Thanksgiving dinner was,” cracked Marchand. “He didn’t like what I ate.”
What proved difficult for Cassidy to stomach was the final score, the second loss in a row at home, and the third time this year (including Oct. 20 in Philadelphia and Nov. 11 here vs. Edmonton) that the Bruins have self-immolated in the third. Not a trend any coach would find appetizing, not a trend that would portend playoff success.
Panarin’s game-winner, with 8:25 to go in regulation, was a goal-front bang-bang play scored off the rush. Justin Gauthier centered off the right wing and the crafty Panarin slipped through backliners Derek Forbort and Brandon Carlo to cash in the 3-2 lead.
Only 4:57 later, Gauthier set up Lafreniere for the 4-2 jawbreaker, this time with Boston’s No. 1 line (Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak) on the ice, backed by No. 1 defenseman Charlie McAvoy.
“I think the third goal is just a good example of guys … we didn’t play winning hockey, for whatever reason,” observed Cassidy. “There was breakdown in structure all over the ice.”
And with lack of structure, noted the coach, comes introspection. The look from within wasn’t good.
“Why do we not get the message across?” he said. “You’ve got five guys on the ice who’ve been in the league a long time. I think the onus has to be shared there as well.”
Panarin’s goal, his fifth this year, gave the Rangers the lead for the first time — and for the rest of the game.
“Now you’re chasing the game,” said a frustrated Cassidy. “A game that was back and forth for the most part. We had the edge in the first, they did in the second. A good hockey game and we kind of pissed it away, to be honest with you.”
The sides entered the third period in a 2-2 deadlock, the Rangers having wiped out the one-goal Bruins leads in first and second.
The Bruins moved ahead for the first time at 14:46 of the first when Craig Smith connected when Jacob Trouba missed a chance to grab a loose puck near the right circle.
The Bruins stood but six seconds from taking the 1-0 lead into the first intermission when Panarin shoveled an Adam Oates-like backhander into the low slot for Ryan Strome to snap by Jeremy Swayman for the equalizer.
The Bruins outshot the Rangers, 17-5, in the first period. Two nights earlier, they had peppered the Sabres to the tune of 22-8 in the first. For the combined 40:00 of the last two first periods, the Bruins held a 39-13 edge. Proof of starting on time.
But the proof was not there for a strong finish. The proof went poof. Trouba fired a long shot, nearly 200 feet, into an empty night for the 5-2 closer.
The Bruins moved ahead for a second time, 2-1, when Bergeron connected at 6:51 of the second. The strike came seconds after a faceoff in New York’s end, with Bergeron set up for an easy forehand pot off of Matt Grzelcyk’s feed from the left circle.
Dryden Hunt knotted it, 2-2, for the Rangers at 12:33, after Swayman made an excellent stop on a blistering slapper above the left circle. The puck squibbed out to his left, left uncovered by the Boston backline, and Swayman was a fraction too late to cover the short side.
Marchand, with an extra glove in his winter wardrobe, did not sound panicked in his postgame assessment, reiterating his confidence “in the group.” He pointed out a couple of times that the roster turned over considerably in the offseason and it’s taking time for all the parts to integrate for the 10-7-0 Bruins.
“I wouldn’t say it’s lack of focus,” he said. “We have breakdowns that … we seem to get scored on plays from nothing.
“I thought we had a pretty good third. Regardless of them scoring three goals, we put a pretty good push on. Again, it’s a couple of little breakdowns they capitalized on, and we didn’t capitalize on ours. Those are the little things we have to clean up.
“If we do, and we stop shooting ourselves in the foot, we’re going to be a pretty good team.”
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKPD.
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