Bruins Fall to Chicago in Third Straight Loss

BOSTON- The Bruins did what they wanted to do defensively on Friday night. Boston held Chicago's high-octane attack to just 22 shots on goal.
The dynamic duo of Patrice Kane and Jonathan Toews was held off the scoresheet. And the Blackhawks managed just one goal.
But that one goal was a devastating one.

Marian Hossa scored with 1:26 remaining to lift Chicago to a 1-0 win over the Bruins at TD Garden. It was Boston's third straight loss and the second time in three games the Bruins have been shut out.
"We played well," said Torey Krug. "We had a great game plan going into it. We executed it well. Our guys played hard, and a couple mistakes it ends up in the back of our net. You know, it's one of those games where you've got to get that thing into overtime so that we can get the point and then move from there and try and win this thing."

Hossa denied the Bruins that opportunity with his 17th goal of the season in the final minutes. Blackhawks forward Vinnie Hinostroza carried the puck into the Bruins end before dishing one off to Tanner Kero by the right circle.
Kero then backhanded a pass to Hossa through the crease, where Hossa deposited it past Rask.
"We have to stand there again, take the responsibility for our own actions," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "It's unfortunate because that minute-and-a-half that was left in the game kind of tarnished everything we done for the first whatever, 58 minutes.
"I thought we played pretty well against a good team. We had contained the guys that we needed to contain. We didn't score any goals - I don't think we did a good enough job there - we had some chances. But, again, you got to find ways to score goals."

But as well the Bruins played, they know that at this point, wins are the only thing that matter. Moral victories will not get them back to the postseason.
"At this point, you don't want to rely on feeling like you deserve to win," said Krug. "You've got to somehow get the results…it's a disappointing finish, but you take that game and you try to use it the next game, and I think you're going to beat a lot of teams if you play like we did tonight.
"We thought we played a pretty solid game all around, but time and time again… we're not in it for moral victories. We've got to start plucking points if we want to stay in this thing."

Beleskey Returns

Matt Beleskey played for the first time since suffering a knee injury in Buffalo on Dec. 3. The winger played 11 minutes, 6 seconds, registering three hits and a blocked shot.

Odds and Ends

The Bruins, who lost to the Islanders, 4-0, at TD Garden on Monday, were shut out in consecutive home games for the first time since October 2003…Friday marked the first time Chicago shut out the Bruins in Boston since Jan. 17, 1970….Tim Schaller had a game-high five hits, while also landing three shots on goal in 12:44 of ice time.