There the Bruins were, sitting on a cool 3-0 lead halfway through Monday night’s contest at Madison Square Garden, and on the way was most certainly another column about playoff matchups and the Bruins needing to keep pushing until both the Flyers and Capitals were looking up at them in the standings. The B’s were getting shots on Henrik Lundqvist. Those blocked shots that plagued them in their last meeting? No matter. Chris Kelly and Daniel Paille were contributing, with the latter scoring his second goal in as many games. Given that the Rangers are in a race for a playoff spot, it was almost a bit surprising to see that the Bruins were in for a rather easy win. 

What was not expected, however was a genuine candidate for the Bruins’ worst loss of the season. It was not a case of a team already in the playoffs going through the motions against a team pushing for a spot. The Bruins, who could have come within two points of the top seed and perhaps a shot at the Hurricanes in the first round (beating the Rangers would have left Carolina two points back of New York with a game in hand), had plenty to play for — and for 30 minutes, they did. 

After getting 19 shots on Henrik Lundqvist (two of which went in) in the first period, the Bruins were able to total just 11 the rest of the way, though Chris Kelly was able to make it 3-0 halfway through the second. The Rangers, meanwhile, would score five goals (one of which was an empty-netter) in the final 30 minutes of the game for a 5-3 loss (click here for the full recap). Monday’s contest was one that the Bruins had, and one that they most certainly let get away. 

“Instead of playing the type of game we were supposed to play for 60 minutes, we stopped playing it,” coach Claude Julien told reporters after the game. “We decided to get cute, and when you get cute, that's what happens.”

Monday’s type of loss is the kind you remember, and if you’re the worrying type, it’s the type to worry over. It wasn’t a case of the Bruins running into a better team. In fact, it was a case of the Bruins seeing if being the better team for 30 minutes was enough to get them two points. Come the playoffs, when “two points” turns into “win” and “loss/overtime loss” turns into “one game closer to elimination,” the answer to that question is almost always no, as it was Monday in New York. 

“Even if they had desperation, we were still the better team the first half of the game,” Julien said, “and the only reason they took over is because we let them.”

There is both good and bad that can come out of such a loss. The bad is obvious: they blew a big lead against a team they could very well face in the first round of the playoffs. The good is that if they want to, they can now use the next three games to really make sure everybody is fresh for the postseason, because there likely isn’t a thing to be gained in the standings from pushing the pedal to the medal for the remainder of the regular season. Though the Bruins would hold the tiebreaker over both the Flyers and Capitals, the small chance of gaining four points in three games probably isn’t worth passing over the safer route of making sure guys are in tip-top shape for when it starts counting next week. 

Of course, in preparing for life as a No. 3 seed, the Bruins must now come to grips with the fact that they will almost certainly face a team that beat them more times than not in the regular season. The Canadiens, who currently have the No. 6 spot, took four of six from the B’s this year. Same goes for No. 7 Buffalo, with the B’s going 2-2-2. The Rangers’ win on Monday means they took the season series in 3-1-0 fashion. 

Through Sunday’s season-finale in New Jersey, the Bruins no longer need to treat each game as crucial as much as they should treat them as opportunities to rest some guys and figure out what their postseason lineup will look like. Among the questions they can answer is whether Paille’s recent performance has earned him a spot in the lineup, and whether it might come at the expense of Tyler Seguin. 

After Monday’s stinker, they can also use the next week to figure out how to not let it happen next week.

“At this stage of the season, you hope it's a real good lesson that we learned tonight,” Julien said, “that if you don't want to respect the game plan for 60 minutes, those things are going to happen.”

The Bruins haven’t let it happen often this season, and now isn’t the time to start.