Bruins' offense comes up empty in 2-0 loss to Canucks

BOSTON — You cannot argue that the Bruins have not greatly improved their team defense since the they made their coaching change.

But Joe Sacco cannot wave his wand to create more goal scorers in the B’s lineup. And it also doesn’t help that your best legitimate sniper is going through one of the worst droughts of his career.

The B’s outplayed the Vancouver Canucks for long stretches on Tuesday night at the Garden, but they just could not beat journeyman goalie Kevin Lankinen and lost, 2-0.

Old friend Jake DeBrusk scored on a challenged power-play goal in the second period while the B’s went 0 for 3 on their power plays, including two third-period advantages. David Pastrnak, who has two goals in 14 games, was stopped on a second-period breakaway.

The B’s pressured with the extra skater, but Elias Lindholm missed a great opportunity before Conor Garland ended it with an empty-netter.

The B’s outshot the Canucks 33-15 while Vancouver blocked 26 shots.

The Bruins held an edge in play in a scoreless, action-lite first period, outshooting the Canucks, 9-3. Pastrnak had the first shot for either team six minutes into the game.

The only “highlight” to speak of was the dual video tribute to returning former Bruins DeBrusk and Danton Heinen, both of whom received politely warm welcomes.

The B’s had the only two real scoring chances. First, Brad Marchand tried to center a pass to Lindholm at the top of the crease. Lindholm couldn’t get a handle on it but it came to Justin Brazeau, who had a half-empty net to shoot at but defenseman Erik Brannstrom managed to get a piece of it to send it over the glass.

The other chance came when Morgan Geekie stole a puck off a board battle and wheeled into a wide open slot. Lankinen had to be sharp to turn away Geekie’s hard wrister.

At the other end, the B’s gave the Canucks very little in the opening 20 minutes.

The B’s had a great chance to take the lead early in the second when Pavel Zacha sent Pastrnak in on a breakaway with a great blue-to-blue line backhand pass. Pastrnak made a nice move to his backhand and almost sifted it through Lankinen’s pads, but the goalie was just able to cut it off with his back pad. Charlie McAvoy followed up the rebound and sent it into the crease, but there were two Vancouver defenders in the crease backing up Lankinen to keep Geekie from getting at it.

The B’s lost their momentum when Marchand took an offensive zone crosschecking on Garland.

Then the warmth for DeBrusk left the building. On the power play, Quinn Hughes threw the puck toward the net and it hit Garland up high. The puck dropped down for DeBrusk for an easy backhand tap-in at 5:53. It was the first PP goal the B’s allowed in the nine tries since Sacco took over and they also had their first deficit in the Sacco era.

Sacco challenged that the puck hitting Garland’s glove constituted a hand pass, but the goal was upheld, with the explanation being that though the puck did hit Garland’s glove, it was not a hand pass. The B’s were forced to kill automatic penalty for the failed challenge, which they did successfully.

The B’s eventually regained their footing and Mason Lohrei drew the first Vancouver penalty when he juked his way into the slot and Brock Boeser hacked him. But while the first unit had decent puck movement, they could not get a great shot on net Lankinen and the advantage petered out.

To come away with points in this one, the B’s had to do what they hadn’t been able to do since the first home game of the season – score a third-period goal at the Garden. They had a 22-9 shot advantage at that point, but a zero where it mattered.

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