With points ripe for picking, a finally healthy Bruins club falling victim to same issues

When it comes to brewing up two points in the standings, the Bruins had just about every ingredient in the book ahead of Thursday’s matchup.

The opponent? The New Jersey Devils — a club currently mired in last place in the Eastern Conference (33 points) and without the services of the reigning Hart Trophy winner in Taylor Hall.

Where? TD Garden — where the Bruins held a record of 13-4-0 and recently rattled off wins over the Ducks and Predators.

In net? Jaroslav Halak — Boston’s de-facto top goaltender that boasted a record of 8-0-0 with a 1.74 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage at the Garden this year.

In the lineup? Three regulars who had missed a combined 40 games due to various ailments in Zdeno Chara, Kevan Miller and Jake DeBrusk — putting Boston nearly back to full strength after two miserable months battling the injury bug.

And the end result? Zero points to show for it.

After dropping a disheartening loss on the road to the Hurricanes just ahead of the holiday break, Boston one-upped itself in the worst possible way — as the cellar-dwelling Devils strolled in and bested the B’s on home ice, 5-2.

With the loss, the Bruins are once again playing with fire in regards to the playoff picture. Just one point separates Boston (44 points) from Montreal for the final Wild Card spot in the East, while the Islanders sit on the outside looking in with 40 points — albeit with three fewer games played than Boston.

Every club goes through the scheduled turbulence that comes with a long and grueling regular season, but Thursday’s loss was another sobering result for a Bruins team still haunted by the same issues plaguing it for most of the year — faults that can’t just be patched up with healthy bodies back on the roster.



“There’s probably three or four things that you certainly look at that, guys think, ‘Well,  okay, we’re going to get out there, it’s going to happen for us,’” Bruce Cassidy said of the return of Chara, DeBrusk and Miller. “You’re getting guys back and it’s, ‘Ok, here we go — it’s going to happen for us.’ ... I think that certainly, probably was on some guys minds.

"Jersey’s struggling a little bit, okay, we’re going to just go out and show up. … They certainly were more prepared, so give them credit. That’s on us as a staff to get our guys ready, and we failed there tonight, obviously. We weren’t their match early on.”

Thanks to clumsy play with the puck (17 giveaways) and late pickups along the blue line and in the neutral zone, the speedy Devils pounced when given a window against Halak — New Jersey landed its punches against Boston, lighting the lamp just 25 seconds into the game and keeping the B’s on the ropes as the contest progressed.

For a Bruins team still ranked second in the league in goals allowed per game at 2.66, Boston’s has left itself vulnerable to counter rushes an awful lot as of late — relinquishing five goals on Thursday after giving up another five-spot to Carolina on Sunday, punctuated by a pair of shorthanded tallies.

“We could have simplified, especially through the neutral zone,” Chara said. “Drives on those turnovers, they were really getting good transition out of those. I think in the second period we had good chances in the second period. ... Obviously, the sequence ended up being a goal for and then we missed some chances and they capitalized on theirs.”

Boston's stout defense has given up quite a bit of ice for the opposition as of late, but looking at the final box score from Thursday, it’s hard to ignore what has been a recurring trend for this club in the offensive zone.

The stat leaves plenty up for interpretation, but as a whole, Boston has been pretty effective in funneling pucks on net this year — with the B’s holding an edge in 5v5 shots on goal in seven of their outings in December.

The record in those games? 1-6.

Why? The regular conundrum of sacrificing quality over quantity.

Look no further than the first period of Thursday’s tilt against New Jersey — a game in which Boston held a 29-24 edge in shots on goal during 5v5 play, as well as a 42-33 advantage in all situations.

While Boston managed to land 10 shots on goal against the Devils during first intermission, the team attempted 22 shots — with a number of pucks failing to reach netminder Mackenzie Blackwood thanks to a body in front.

Especially during 5v5 play, Boston only generated four scoring chances during the first period — with zero tabbed as “high-danger” looks on goal.



And while Chris Wagner and Patrice Bergeron both lit the lamp and other scoring chances were halted a clang off the post, shot selection is still proving to be an issue for this club.

“I think we had a lot of good looks, we hit a lot of posts but that’s hockey,” John Moore said. “Sometimes those bounces go in, sometimes they don’t. I also think you work for your luck in this league, a lot of times we were an easy out.”

Even when Boston landed shots against Blackwood, most of them came once again from the Bruins’ top line of Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak — with the trio combining for 14 of the team’s SOG and 13 of its 24 individual scoring chances.

Finally reunited, that line is going to produce (63.89 Corsi-For Percentage on Thursday), but what then to make of the second line — a group that has dealt with shuffles on the wing for most of the year?

Once again, Cassidy made a switch to David Krejci’s right as the game progressed, swapping Danton Heinen for Joakim Nordstrom in another attempt to find some help for Boston’s playmaking pivot.

Switching Heinen (50.00 CF%) in favor of Nordstrom (87.50 CF%) paid dividends in the possession game, but is Nordstrom (who has performed valiantly in numerous roles this season) really going to be Boston’s answer for a top-six winger?

Attempts might have been in Boston’s favor with the DeBrusk-Krejci-Nordstrom line, but the switch still led to zero goals on the board — as Boston fumbled a potential third-period comeback by surrendering three goals in the final 20 minutes of regulation.

So far this season, Boston is 0-11-1 when trailing after two periods of play. Not ideal.

The road doesn’t get easier for the Bruins with a matchup against the surging Sabres on Saturday, but it’s par for the course in what has been a season marked with major ups and downs for Boston. 

With Charlie McAvoy expected back in the lineup and players like Chara and DeBrusk slowly shaking off the rust, Cassidy and his staff can at least enjoy the luxury of rolling out a full roster for the first time all season this weekend, barring any other setbacks. 

But will that solve these familiar shortcomings for this Bruins club? Well, that’s another question.

“We’re expecting that,” Bergeron said of viewing this season as a battle. “When you have a year like we’ve had last year, you know teams are going to be ready for you, and rightfully so. We should see that as a challenge and I don’t think it should be an issue. …  I think, bottom line, we didn’t respond the way that we wanted to and especially after the loss in Carolina we wanted to bounce back and we definitely didn’t do it.”