Ryan: In a shortened season like this, Bruins can't afford to have letdown games against East Division opponents

When it comes to looking at what lies ahead on the docket, the Bruins have to be licking their chops at the final stretches of the 2021 regular-season schedule — with eight of their last 28 matchups set against a cellar-dwelling Sabres team in a complete free fall.

But perhaps such optimism is a bit shortsighted.

After all, if we're gauging talent and expectations when it comes to matchups — then this Bruins roster should be putting away a rebuilding New Jersey team faster than a veal parm at Satriale's.

But such hasn't been the case at all, with Boston going 1-2-1 against the Devils in four tries, scoring just five goals during that stretch.

Sunday was far and away the most frustrating meeting between both clubs, with Kyle Palmieri scoring the lone goal of the evening with 4:37 to go in regulation to cap off a 1-0 victory for the visitors at TD Garden. 

Given the emotional high that the Bruins were running on just a few days prior during a statement win over the Capitals, Sunday's snoozer stood as a major letdown for the a B's club that hasn't posted consecutive victories since stringing together back-to-back W's on Feb. 10 and Feb. 12  — especially against a Devils team that just played the previous afternoon and was stuck in a 1-8-0 rut.

"I don't think we attacked their D enough," Bruce Cassidy said of Boston's offensive woes on Sunday. "We had some guys in our lineup if we look back, they probably didn't have real strong offensive games ... with the Devils this year, we haven't scored. We just haven't scored against them. The first game against them, I thought we had enough offense to score three, four, five goals. I think the next night we lose, one gets called back. For whatever reason, we haven't had a lot of puck luck against them. We need a little more will. And the goaltending's been good against us. At the end of the day, we've defended well against them, just haven't done the part on offense."

Currently, Boston's struggles when it comes to scooping up points against lesser competition is more frustrating than anything. But in another month's time, this irksome habit could become very, very costly.



While potential salvation awaits in the from of those repeated matchups against the Sabres, Boston's knack for either playing down to the competition or handing out points in the standings off of multiple overtime/shootout games are making it hard for the B's to build any semblance of breathing room in a competitive East Division that is, as expected, stacked at the top.

Even though Boston spent a large sum of the first two months of the 2021 campaign atop the East, this recent 4-5-1 skid suddenly has Boston lumped in with other contenders within the division, with just two points suddenly separating them from the fifth-place Flyers (a team that is 12-5-1 against everyone in the East that isn't the Bruins).



While it's rather safe to assume that the Rangers, Devils and Sabres are not going to be in the playoff picture, the fact of the matter is that one very good team (Islanders, Capitals, Bruins, Penguins, Flyers) is going to be on the outside looking in at a bid to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As such, every single point in a COVID-shortened, 56-game campaign is crucial — which makes Boston's pedestrian record against the cellar-dwellers like the Rangers and Devils (4-3-1) all the more concerning.

Yes, it's the NHL and any team can win on any given night, but a group like the Bruins can't be settling for .500 showings against teams that they should be taking the lion's share of points from — especially when the alternative is scrapping for whatever points they can against tougher outs like the Islanders and Capitals.

"It's our job to get up and come ready to play and bring our energy for this one, especially against a team who's not up in there in the standings, but they've had our number this year," Charlie Coyle said of the Devils following Sunday's loss. "There's been a few games against them where for some reason or another we're not ready from the start, I guess. We have to be. We have to play like something big is on the line, and that's the case. It's two points up for grabs each night.

"We have to make sure we come ready to go and get ready for puck drop, play the way we did the other night. It's not always gonna be pretty, it's not always gonna be perfect. But we've got to find a way and do the right things."

Perhaps you can chalk up some of Sunday's loss to pure puck luck (or lack thereof) and an otherworldly showing from Devils netminder Scott Wedgewood (40 saves on 40 shots). Still, as promising as Friday's victory was both in terms of the emotional response and the breakthrough on the scoresheet from numerous forward groupings, Sunday's stinker saw the same ol' flaws return.

Even though the B's top line combined for 17 of the club's 40 shots on net against Wedgewood, their inability to pot one home had Boston's offense dead in the water, as too many passengers once again eliminated any hope of a late-game surge. Two second-line cogs in David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk have combined for just one goal on the season (a power-play tally), with DeBrusk continuing to fight the puck in what stands as the most ill-timed — and concerning — slump of his career.

"I don't think there's a magic answer — we would have used it, last year, this year," Cassidy said when asked how to get DeBrusk rolling. "I mean, some of the onus becomes ... like when Charlie (Coyle) goes quiet, right? ... He's not Charlie in terms of physical stature, but he has foot speed that he can beat some (defensemen) with and free himself up for a shot, kind of like what (David Pastrnak) does. So there's a little bit of that that's missing in Jake's game, where he could ... create some turnovers off the forecheck and some second effort around pucks to strip people, loose pucks, a little bit like (Brad Marchand's) game, right?

"I mean, he's got some of those attributes of those two, he hasn't been in the league as long as those two but we've seen it — his foot speed is second to nobody. We've seen him have a good release, we've seen him put second effort on pucks and get inside. You just got to put it together every night. Even the best scorers, let's say he's a 25-goal scorer, just out of simple math. ... I mean, that's a goal every third night in a season, right? So two of those nights, you're not scoring, but you're doing what you're supposed to do to score, right? So you're just increasing your odds. And I think that's where I think where Jake would score more if he did that every night and then eventually they're gonna go in."

Whether it be continued struggles on that second line, sudden scoring outages from other veterans like Craig Smith (just one goal in his last 13 games) or a slumping power that's only cashed in three times in its last 28 attempts, Boston is mired in the same old narrative that plagued them in years past when it comes to its top-heavy offense. The only difference this year, however, is that the margin of error is much smaller.

Even though Boston is avoiding juggernauts like the Maple Leafs and Lightning on account of these revamped, region-based divisions, the B's also don't have the luxury of beating up on teams like the Senators and Red Wings (another sorry squad that somehow has had Boston's number over the years) anymore. Instead, with the midway point of the 2021 season approaching, the Bruins are suddenly stuck in a five-team battle royale with just four playoff spots up for grabs.

Perhaps the Bruins eventually flip the switch and steamroll those eight games against the Sabres. They certainly have the talent to do it.

If these standings hold up as they are right now, it might become a necessity in this cutthroat division.

"It is a shortened season and you don't want to get into some sort of rut where your game's kind of fallen and you're losing games, and it's hard to gain those points back when there's only so many you can take in a shortened season," Coyle said. "So it's up to us to talk about it, talk about things in our game that we can do better that will help us get a better result. And that's what we do. We got to learn from these ones, and do what we can to come back and play the way we need to play."