There really isn’t much to be said after a hockey team drops a stink bomb so pungent that it leaves even an optimistic soul like Jim Montgomery without any positives to draw out of it.
“Our compete level,” said Montgomery postgame to NESN when asked about where things went wrong in a 5-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at the Canada Life Centre. “We didn’t win enough one-on-one battles. It started in the faceoff circle, and it just spiraled downhill from there.”
Asked by Andy Brickley if there were any silver linings to take from the effort, Montgomery unhesitatingly answered “No.”
Things got off sluggishly for the Black and Gold, but they almost luckily got out of the first period unscathed.
Fittingly, though, they didn’t find a way to escape while surrendering a goal with less than eight seconds until the intermission. It was a Josh Morrissey follow-up shot after Gabe Vilardi rushed the puck wide in an odd-man rush, and it was one of several backbreaking goals that Boston coughed at the worst possible time during the game.
Really, it was the kind of game where all of Boston’s weaknesses reared their unsightly heads for all to see.
“Our start wasn’t very good. We didn’t come to play tonight and that’s on us,” admitted Brandon Carlo. “Obviously they did and that showed, especially in the first period and later on in the game. We didn’t get any momentum.
“The only reason it was even close in the first period was because of [Jeremy Swayman] so we’ve got a lot to clean up for sure.”
It was also another example of a Bruins player missing well wide of the net with an amped-up shot or pass attempt, this time Charlie McAvoy was the culprit and the puck immediately rimmed around going in the wrong direction with all the speed and momentum. It really wasn’t a surprise when it ended up in the back of the Boston net because it’s simply and frankly bad hockey, just like the too many men on the ice penalty that led to a Nino Neiderreiter power play goal in a dreadful second period.
It continues a trend of the Boston Bruins cracking and breaking at the worst times when their opponents really ramp up the intensity and frenzy around Boston’s own net, and that is something that will prove lethal in the Stanley Cup playoffs if it isn’t properly addressed during the regular season.
“You tip your cap to a team that was ready to play in their own building,” said Jeremy Swayman, who was the unfortunate guy between the pipes with a team seemingly going through the motions in front of him. “We want to end periods. To have this trend where we’re getting score on in the last minute is unacceptable. So we’re going to everything we need to do, talk about it as a team and really dial it in during the last minute for sure.”
So what to do about all of this?
Well, for this season’s edition of the Black and Gold it should be about strengthening and fortifying this hockey team.
For so long the chatter around this Bruins team has been about adding a top-6 center to the mix after both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired over the summer. Certainly a 200-foot player like Calgary’s Elias Lindholm could be a big boost to a Boston Bruins team that appears to be one frontline forward away from being a much more dangerous offensive group.
He is the rumor du jour for the Boston Bruins and that won’t be going away as long as Calgary is looking to put him on the market.
But this team needs much, much more stoutness on the back end. It’s now to a point after a slew of third-period blown leads that opponents believe that Boston can be dented when enough pressure is applied in their own end, and it is 100 percent fact that the Bruins are absolutely susceptible to speed attacks off the rush when those openings arrive.
More importantly, there is doubt in the minds of Boston Bruins players in those situations as part of a growing trend across the NHL of teams being unable to protect third-period leads. They are well aware of the problematic trend, just as they are aware of the 2-6 record in overtimes after sometimes blowing those third-period leads as well.
It’s a problem that the B’s find themselves in altogether way too many white-knuckle one-goal games in the third period because they don’t have the goal-scoring ability to create separation on the scoreboard.
But this edition of the Bruins could use somebody like an Adam McQuaid in his prime as a bottom-6 defenseman capable of clearing bodies, dropping gloves and playing good, old-fashioned hardnosed hockey.
Beyond that there is also a need for a dirty, mean and nasty customer on the fourth line for this Bruins team as well. They built the team during the offseason expecting to have a menacing presence like Milan Lucic in the fold, and that intimidating, physical component has been woefully missing from the team.
Certainly Oskar Steen, Johnny Beecher and Jakub Lauko should be given full credit for doing their best with the energy line assignment, and Lauko helped spark Boston to a point in an overtime loss to Minnesota earlier this week after getting a little surly in his first period hockey fight.
Lauko DROPS Dewar 💥 🥊 #NHL #NHLBruins #MinnesotaWild #NHLFight #Fight #Hockeyfight #Hockey pic.twitter.com/uzg0kE0b2Y
— Picks by Rum (@JRum1200) December 20, 2023
“They’ve been incredible lately. They’ve been a huge part of our group,” said Brad Marchand of Boston’s fourth line. “They’re not getting enough credit right now.”
But let’s be honest, here.
None of those three players put fear into the other 31 teams around the NHL and there are very few players on the Boston Bruins roster that instill that kind of trepidation into the hearts of opponents around the league. The Bruins need a hard-hitting bit of nastiness for the practical purpose of wearing down the opponent’s defensemen, and simply to give the other team somebody, or something, to worry about.
The bottom line: The Boston Bruins are showing a little too much softness during an NHL season that gets harder and more difficult as things move along. And that will be a potentially fatal issue come playoff-time as it was last spring in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Florida Panthers as everybody remembers.