Bruins Notes: Team Leaders Provide Honest Assessment After OT Loss

Unable to complete the comeback, the Bruins left a much-needed point on the board when they fell to the Anaheim Ducks in overtime.

“I liked the resiliency factor,” interim head coach Joe Sacco told Andy Brickley, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I thought that we played hard right to the end of that game there. It took us almost 60 minutes to tie it up. So, I did like the part that the guys stuck with it, and we hung in there right to the very end.

“Obviously, the start wasn’t what we had drawn up. (The Ducks) came out, and they controlled territory early on. We weren’t sharp. We weren’t executing. I didn’t like that part of the game. But, like I said, I liked the fact that we stuck with it to the end. It’s disappointing that we didn’t come up with the extra point.”

The Bruins are currently in a dogfight in the Eastern Conference to make the postseason, and the Black and Gold are currently one point out of contention.

“Every point matters right now in the standings,” Sacco said. “For us to at least grab one, it’s a step in the right direction. … We can look at that sign of obviously finishing hard to end the game there.”

Boston trailed Anaheim 2-0 at the end of the first after giving up two late scores in the final three minutes of the period.

“After our first period, we were good,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “We didn’t give up a whole lot after that. … We did a good job pushing back. We know we’re a good team when we play the right way. It just took us a little bit too long to get into it tonight.”

Marchand added: “The biggest thing is you just have to take it day by day. You can’t start looking ahead. Every game is important. Every point is important. We know that we’re in a dogfight here to the end.”

Here are more notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Ducks game:

— Morgan Geekie tied the game 2-2 with his 18th goal of the season, a career-high for the Bruins forward. His tying goal, with the extra attacker on the ice, was the first 6-on-5 goal for the Bruins this season.

The goal was initially waved off by the officials on the ice due to goalie interference. However, the Bruins challenged the call, and it was overturned.

“It’s a goal every day of the week,” Elias Lindholm, who was originally called for impeding Lukas Dostal’s ability to play the puck, said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I barely touched him, and I was surprised. I mean, it should be a goal, and it was a goal.”

— David Pastrnak had an assist on Lindholm’s goal in the second period, extending his point streak to 14 games. He has 27 points (11 goals and 16 assists) during that span. It is the longest streak of his career and the longest by a Bruin since Phil Kessel’s 18-game point streak Through November and December in the 2008-09 campaign.

— Mason Lohrei, who was a game-time decision due to illness, recorded two assists in the loss. He now leads all Bruins defensemen with 25 points (three goals and 22 assists) this season.

— The Bruins will look to end their three-game losing streak when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs in an Original Six clash Tuesday night. Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game on NESN following an hour of pregame coverage.