Mason Lohrei logs heavy minutes in Bruins’ loss to Sabers

The Bruins fell short in their second preseason game, losing to the Sabers, 4-1, Tuesday night at KeyBank Center.

Oskar Steen scored the Bruins’ lone goal at 17:57 of the third period, while starting goaltender Kyle Keyser stopped 20 of 22 shots faced in the loss. Michael DiPietro replaced Keyser in net during the second period, finishing with 11 saves on 12 shots.

Here are some takeaways from Boston’s preseason fight in Buffalo.

Lots of passengers

Boston’s preseason opener against the Rangers was encouraging on several fronts, with several prospects, Brandon Bussi, Matthew Poitras and Johnny Beecher, all making strong first impressions on the ice.

Tuesday’s follow-up performance in Buffalo was much more subdued. Beyond a few stars, Boston’s roster — particularly its younger players — struggled to make much of an impact in what was a sleepy loss to the Sabres.

After the game, Jim Montgomery noted on the NESN broadcast that he was impressed with Jesper Boqvist’s skating and two-way play, while Beecher posted another strong performance (15:21 TOI, one penalty zero, two blocks) as he tried to defend his arguments. the center spot on the team’s fourth line.

But it was a quiet night for much of Boston’s attacking corps, with Oskar Steen’s late goal serving as the lone spark to a largely disjointed attack, particularly in the first 40 minutes of play.

Despite Steen’s considerable efforts with his net scoring, a line consisting of him, Danton Heinen and Georgii Merkulov struggled to make much of an impact in 5v5 play. In their 4:03 playing time together, the Sabers held the advantage in goals scored, 1-0, and shot attempts, 6-1.

It was far from an ideal start for two PTO candidates, Heinen and Alex Chiasson (15:20 TOI, minus-1 rating), while Merkulov had some extended lulls in the O-zone against Buffalo.

For all of Montgomery’s talk about wanting Boston to play with both pace and a renewed emphasis on physicality, the Bruins recorded just nine total hits against Buffalo.

Just two games into the preseason, the Bruins aren’t necessarily fielding the most complete roster at this point in the summer.

But Montgomery and his team are looking for AHL regulars, PTO players and some bubble candidates to make their decisions tougher when it comes to cut day. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for most of Tuesday’s game.

Promise on the blue line

It was far from a stellar night when it came to coverage of Boston’s D-zone. But the Bruins received a boost on the blue line thanks to the play of Mason Lohrei and Ian Mitchell.

The Bruins clearly had no qualms about giving Lohrei significant minutes in his preseason debut. The 22-year-old defenseman finished the game with 29:01 of ice time, with Mitchell ranking second on the team with 19:38.

Lohrei finished with an even score, two shots on goal and the first assist on Steen’s goal after firing a puck through traffic from the point.

As expected, there were a few bumps along the way for Lohrei, who will need to continue to refine his D-zone game and decision-making to handle the pace of the NHL.

Still, Boston appears determined to put Lohrei under a heavy workload during the preseason. Expect this to continue moving forward, although he probably needs some seasoning in Providence to open the year.