For most of the first half of the season, rookie defenseman Nathan Oystrick has been a pleasant surprise for Atlanta. However, in the past two games, Oystrick has made mistakes that define him exactly for what he is: a rookie.

Two nights after Oystrick barely got a piece of Eric Staal as the powerful Hurricanes forward flew past him en route to his third goal of the game, Oystrick drifted out of position for a brief second as Michael Ryder slipped behind him and scored Sunday's game-winning goal for the Bruins.

With Boston's David Krejci carrying the puck down the left side into the Atlanta zone, Veteran defenseman Mathieu Schneider had the play covered. Then, Oystrick slid over the Schneider's side of the ice to offer some help he didn't need. Krejci quickly realized the opening Oystrick had created, pulled up and slid a perfect pass to Ryder, who broke hard to the far side of the net and tapped the puck past Kari Lehtonen.

On the bright side, Oystrick's slight gaffe was one of the few mistakes Atlanta made all night. Facing a team that has won eight straight, Atlanta actually out-shot the Bruins and suffered from yet another series of bad bounces. If there is such a thing as a good loss, this one would qualify.

BRUINS 2, THRASHERS 1: Atlanta gave up another late third-period goal and failed to score on four power plays, including a 5-on-3 in the opening period, and lost for the seventh time in their past 10 games. Bryan Little scored Atlanta's lone goal, his sixth tally in the past three games, while Kari Lehtonen stopped 26-of-28 shots in the loss. Atlanta has lost six straight games to the Bruins, who have now won eight in a row overall.