The Boston Bruins said they earnestly hoped to build on an inspired road comeback win over the St. Louis Blues and utilize it as a springboard to get their inconsistent hockey team on a roll.
Well, that wasn’t even close to what actually transpired on the ice as the Bruins surrendered a goal just 1:09 into the game on the way to a deflating 7-2 loss to the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center on Thursday night.
The defeat dropped the B’s to 4-6-2 against current NHL playoff teams and continued a very concerning trend that they can’t stop those teams defensively in another game that was way too soft for the Black and Gold in all the wrong areas.
“We lost every battle,” admitted Nikita Zadorov, who finished a minus-2 and was on the ice for three goals against before finally getting the gate with a third period misconduct after a slash following a Stars goal against that he wasn’t even on the ice for. “Soft on the puck. Soft everywhere. Not finishing checks. We just got embarrassed today.
“We take a step forward and take a step backwards. It’s hard to win in this league. There are good teams. They’re going to put you on your heels, and you got to deal with pressure.”
The good news is that the Bruins didn’t really take any bad penalties when it mattered during the game, and that Brandon Carlo wasn’t injured after taking a dangerous Jamie Benn hit from behind in the first period. Carlo was shaken up after the play as Zadorov pummeled Benn for his dirty deeds on the ice, but he returned for the second period and put in a full 17:17 of ice time despite finishing a minus-3 for the night.
Good for Zadorov making Jamie Benn answer for that garbage hit from behind on Carlo pic.twitter.com/ntMTqCiilx
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) November 15, 2024
But the bad news was pretty much everything else as it made Tuesday’s comeback win against the Blues look like a mirage against a non-playoff team that won’t be happening against deep, dangerous, quality teams like Dallas. Carlo and Mason Lohrei both finished a minus-3 and were ineffective around the defensive net, but this was a team loss with irresponsible puck management decisions, sloppy and disconnected play and a ton of lost battles at both ends of the ice after it looked like the Bruins simply weren’t ready to play once again after the opening puck drop.
It wasn’t an exact replica of a lot of the Bruins' losses to date this season, but it wasn’t any kind of reassuring reflection on the players and coaches that they are on the way to finding their consistent groove.
“They executed at a high level, and we didn’t match the execution,” said Jim Montgomery. “It’s been frustrating all year that we haven’t been able to string together three or four consistent games where we feel like our habits and details are consistently there.”
Boston’s minus-16 goal differential is third-worst in the Eastern Conference ahead of only Montreal and Pittsburgh, and the 3-5-1 road record is a true reflection of how poorly they have looked in places like Carolina and Dallas this season. The question continues to be when something of significance is going to change for a group fumbling around for the answers while treading water in the Atlantic Division.
The Bruins still sit precariously in a playoff spot with their 8-8-2 record and 18 points, but the Lightning, Senators and Sabres all sit one point behind them with games in hand on the Black and Gold. They believe they have the answers inside the Bruins dressing room to turn things around, but the evidence is mounting that they do not when facing anybody better than pushover level in the league.
“I think they did a good job getting a quick start. We weren’t ready for the push. That’s something we need to regroup on and identify moving forward,” said Swayman, who sits with a 5-6-2 record and an .888 save percentage after holding out for all of training camp to ultimately sign a massive contract extension that he hasn’t lived up to as of yet. “We’re going to make sure this is a building block for us, not a setback. That’s on us to do that.”
The question now is about when exactly Bruins management is going to act beyond relegating somebody like Matt Poitras to the minors. The free agency work done on July 1 isn’t looking hot with Elias Lindholm failing in efforts to gain chemistry with David Pastrnak, and Zadorov struggling to do much besides accumulate penalty minutes in his role as a shutdown defenseman.
That doesn’t even mention Riley Tufte and Max Jones now toiling in the AHL after they were essentially beaten out by training camp invite Tyler Johnson. The only player signed in free agency that’s meeting, or exceeding, expectations is Cole Koepke, who has been strong since the very first days of training camp and has established himself as an NHL player with four goals, 8 points and a team-best plus-10 rating while playing the energetic, responsible and smart hockey that so many others are not right now.
The consequences are very likely to fall on a head coach who hasn’t been effective this season after past playoff failures, but there is tons of blame to go around for what the Bruins are right now. It’s on the players for the way they’ve looked uninspired and disconnected on the ice, and it’s absolutely on the coach who hasn’t been able to steer them away from the constant and repeated mistakes on the ice.
But it also should be on the management team that put together a group that hasn’t consistently shown cohesion, toughness or enough pride all season, and is fully exposed as a soft group every time they play an opponent good enough to uncover this hockey truth. It’s been a familiar refrain that something needs to change to shake up this Bruins team sooner rather than later, and another “embarrassing” loss to the Stars in Dallas serves as another mounting piece of evidence in that regard.