Were it not for the Maple Leafs’ skill and a little bit of luck, Tuukka Rask would have submitted a shutout Tuesday instead of losing in overtime, 4-3.

Toronto scored three times in regulation, including twice in the third period. The Leafs tipped all three pucks past a helpless Rask.

“Good goals, for sure,’’ Kevan Miller said.

In the second, Daniel Winnik tipped a Roman Polak point shot past Rask. In the third, after the Bruins grabbed a 3-1 lead, Leo Komarov initiated the rally by deflecting Morgan Rielly’s snapper into the net at 9:02. Nazem Kadri capped the comeback with a tip of ex-Bruin Matt Hunwick’s shot from the point at 11:31.

There was nothing Rask could do about any of the goals except stay square, be as big as possible, and hope he got enough of the pucks to keep them out. His hopes did not come true.

“The guy just shoots a floater in here and it’s going pretty high,’’ Rask said. “Then all of a sudden it changes direction totally. So I don’t know how to assess it. You just try to stay patient as long as you can as a goalie. But at some point, you have to react to the shot that’s coming at you.’’

But skill and luck were not good enough for Claude Julien to justify the three Toronto tips. Yes, the Leafs look for soft spots in the high slot. Yes, they spend a good amount of practice time shooting and tipping.

And yes, there is a way to defend such goals from taking place.

“To me, it’s poor coverage,’’ said the Bruins coach. “All three goals were tipped 10-15 feet from our net. The slot area was not covered very well. We know they like to shoot for those tips. We didn’t do a good enough job of taking care of that. They did a good job of tipping those pucks. It’s something they work at. The coverage wasn’t how it should have been.’’

Torey Krug was on the ice for two of the three tips. In the first, Krug was worried about the net-front trajectory of Shawn Matthias from the right wing. But instead of boxing out Matthias, Krug cut to his left and got caught in no-man’s land. Meanwhile, Winnik had stepped out from the low slot to gain separation from Miller. By the time Polak’s shot arrived, nobody was in place to prevent Winnik from getting his stick on the puck.

In the third, Krug was engaged in coverage on Michael Grabner. Zach Trotman was marking Komarov. He stepped away from Trotman and twisted his stick to get a piece of Rielly’s shot.

Less than three minutes later, the tip barrage finally came to a close. Komarov was involved again, this time chasing down a loose puck along the left-side wall. Zdeno Chara initially pursued Komarov to engage in a battle. As Chara went after Komarov, Patrice Bergeron also joined in the chase. Because Chara and Bergeron both drifted toward Komarov, Kadri was left open in the high slot.

“You’ve got to read it,’’ Miller said of covering opponents in the high slot. “It’s our job as defensemen to kind of scope out and find that guy. I think we got a little ahead of ourselves a couple times with guys leaving the zone or whatever. We need to make sure we tighten that up.’’

Marking the high slot is not easy. It takes a rapid read-and-react chain of events for the execution to be right. A wing might be in the best position to rotate down and collapse. The center could be in the right spot to fill the shooting lane. While one defenseman has to stay at home in front of the net, the other could be free to take away the high slot.

It requires good hockey sense for the coverage to be sound. The Bruins weren’t thinking well enough to take the plays away.

But they also weren’t strong enough to slow Toronto’s forecheck, nor quick enough to win races for the puck in the defensive zone. Had they pushed back against the Leafs’ pressure, the point men wouldn’t have gotten the pucks to do their damage.

“Their defensemen had great gaps, so there wasn’t too much to move through in the neutral zone,’’ Kadri said. “So we knew we had to get pucks behind them and try to forecheck. No team likes to play in their own end.’’

The Bruins stabilized their lines by returning Ryan Spooner to the middle. But their defensive shortcomings flared up. If the Bruins weren’t sure of their pre-deadline needs before Tuesday’s game, the overtime loss confirmed their deficiencies.

Defensive help is very much wanted.

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeFluto.