Nathan Horton has been a hero in Boston since his first of three game-winning goals in the playoffs during the spring’s Stanley Cup run, but a new season has bought a new batch of frustrations for the B’s first-line right wing. 

Horton was undoubtedly the goat Tuesday night as the Bruins fell, 4-1, to the Hurricanes at TD Garden (recap). On a night in which he gave every effort to ignite both his own play and the spirits of the team, Horton ended up dooming the Bruins with an ill-advised stunt against Tim Gleason, who had been frustrating the Bruins all night with his unwillingness to dance despite his frequent participation in scraps. 

With the Bruins coming off a goal from Rich Peverley to make it 2-1 in the third period, Horton responded to some stick work from Gleason by challenging the Carolina defenseman with whom he has a history (the two dropped the gloves back in 2007 when Horton was with the Panthers) to fight. Gleason clearly declined, keeping his gloves on, at which point Horton began throwing heavy punches at Gleason, even after he was down on the ice. For as good a job at Gleason did at getting under the Bruins’ skin, he ended up taking his share of a fight he didn’t want, while Horton simply took to the Bruins dressing room having been handed a double-minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct. 

The play left the Bruins trying to find their way back into the game while shorthanded with 8:30 remaining. The wheels came off from there, as Zdeno Chara (high-sticking) and Dennis Seidenberg (boarding) took minor penalties in the next 40 seconds, leading to 5-on-3 goals from Eric Staal and Tuomo Ruutu.

Horton wasn’t the only one to have a frustrating night, but there was no single play as costly as Horton’s with the B’s trying to mount a comeback. Some will write off Horton’s actions as simply passionate, saying that emotions got the best of him. While the latter is obviously true, Horton’s play was not an example of “passion.” You may not find a more passionate player in the league than Patrice Bergeron, and aside from a freakout last spring that ended up being because a guy bit him, Bergeron has never come close to the line that Horton crossed on Tuesday. 

What likely makes the night even more frustrating for Horton is that it came when it seemed he and his line were turning things around. Horton picked up his first two points of the season in the previous two games, including the game-tying goal against the Blackhawks Saturday night in Chicago. With Tyler Seguin playing well and centering the line, things were looking up for the top line, but it was among those broken up by coach Claude Julien in the third period Tuesday due to poor performance. Milan Lucic, who would have an early exit minutes after Horton, was taken off the first line, with Benoit Pouliot being promoted. The line wouldn’t last 12 minutes before Horton’s exit and all the shorthanded time made it impossible to tell what the lines would be had there been enough time at even strength.

A season ago, Horton was the Bruins’ leading scorer through six games with an impressive nine points (5 G, 4 A). It’s been a very different start to Horton’s second year in Boston, and it cost the Bruins on Tuesday. 

RASK WILLING TO THROW?

Tuesday night saw two fights go down (Chara vs. Harrison and Chris Kelly vs. Brett Sutter), with a couple more that came close to unfolding. One potential fight that the crowd clearly wanted was a goalie fight between Cam Ward and Tuuka Rask. When Ward got in Chara’s face following the Boston captain’s fight with Harrison, Rask skated the length of the ice to chat with Ward. After a few words, it was clear that Ward wasn’t interested, and Rask was assessed a minor penalty for crossing the red line. 

“I was asking him why he was jumping our guys,” Rask said. “It was a mistake probably on my part. I didn’t know you couldn’t cross the red line.”

Rask has never fought at any level, but he was clearly willing to Tuesday in what would have been the Bruins’ first goalie fight since Tim Thomas was dropped by Carey Price in a comically short bout last season.

“I guess you have to be, right?” Rask said of his willingness to fight. “I’m not much of a fighter, but if that’s what the situation needs, then I guess you have to do that. It didn’t happen today, so I guess that’s good for everybody.”

Rask is not accustomed to throwing fists, though he became an internet sensation in the AHL for his infamous milk-crate-throwing incident in 2009 with the Providence Bruins.