If people didn’t realize that the Boston Bruins are in a fight for their playoff lives at this point, they do now.
The B’s dropped their sixth game in a row and fell back into a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference playoff structure after dropping a 4-1 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Thursday night. And it doesn’t get any easier with a matinee road date against the Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon in a place that’s become a house of hockey horrors for the Black and Gold over the last few years.
The Bruins actually hold just a single-point cushion for a playoff spot over the Pittsburgh Penguins and have the Ottawa Senators hot on their heels in the Atlantic Division with four games in hand right now. Add it all up and it doesn’t look good for a Bruins team amidst their longest regular-season losing streak in 15 years dating back to a 2009-10 team that similarly had major difficulties putting the puck in the net.
The NHL’s 29th-ranked offense and 31st-ranked power play leave the Bruins with very little margin for error when they play, and ultimately it was a couple mistakes in the second period that doomed them in a game where they gave pretty good effort against a quality Bolts team. Once again it was the power play in the second period as David Pastrnak turned a puck over trying to enter the zone against three Lightning killers, and that turned into Mason Lohrei beaten in a footrace to the puck that translated into an Anthony Cirelli shorthanded strike.
Anthony Cirelli gets Tampa on the board first with a shorthanded goal! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/a2AO5yksY7
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 10, 2025
The Bruins have now gone eight games without a power play goal, gone 0-for-13 over that stretch and even worse they are significantly losing momentum on power plays as they did in a second period, they were playing good hockey in before the shorthanded disaster. Of note is Pastrnak’s meager four PP goals on the season, which has him tied with Justin Brazeau for the team lead in terms of man advantage scoring.
In the final minute of the second period, it was Lohrei victimized again as he sagged off Michael Eyssimont rushing the wing, and Eyssimont was able to beat Jeremy Swayman for probably his only misstep in a strong game. The Bruins outshot the Lightning 12-5 in the third period while furiously trying to tie the game, but they could only squeeze out a really skilled Lohrei score that atoned for some of the second-period gaffes.
"We're shooting ourselves in the foot time and time again," said Morgan Geekie. "I feel like lots of these mistakes are kind of self-appointed…but, yeah, we've got to figure it out in this room, and we've got guys that can do that. I believe in each and every one of the guys in this room."
The sobering reality is this for the Black and Gold, they are no longer talented enough to simply will themselves out of these kinds of tailspins that have buried other NHL teams over the years. The B’s have to work extremely hard for their goals, both special teams groups are liabilities much of the time for the Black and Gold and they’re having a tangibly difficult time beating playoff-caliber teams this season. And they’re coming up short in those third-period bursts when they need to find a way to scratch for a goal, and at least salvage the overtime points amidst impending defeat.
In the last two-week stretch, they’ve squandered at least three or four points that could become consequential at season’s end with so many teams vying for playoff spots.
"We were just getting to the net, pucks were getting to the net, we had bodies there, we had two on the inside and created some havoc,” said Joe Sacco of the third-period urgency. “We just need more of that. I'd like to see our group play with that desperation and that passion the whole 60 [minutes].”
The current losing streak was probably a long time coming for the Bruins as the minus-27 goal differential they’re sporting is worst in the Eastern Conference, and better than only Nashville, Chicago and San Jose amongst all NHL teams. The bill has come due for a B’s hockey club that’s going to be fortunate to finish in a playoff spot, but probably should be a wild card entry if they can make some changes to improve their offensive standing.
It might be time to see is a different young player can make an impact after seeing Johnny Beecher miss on a couple of Grade-A chance in Thursday night’s loss, and now having gone 37 games without a goal this season. And Oliver Wahlstrom has now gone nine games without a goal or a point as he’s been all around it with a third line that looked good along with Trent Frederic and Brazeau.
But at this point the Bruins need offense in the forms of actual goals rather than quality scoring chances, and Matt Poitras looks like a guy that could supply it while he continues to produce in the AHL with eight goals and 18 points in 21 games, and playmaking forward Georgii Merkulov is second on the team with 27 points in 30 games.
The Bruins are entering the territory of doing the same thing over and over again without results tangibly changing for the better. The team had a nice burst in late November and December while taking care of business against also-rans and non-contenders, but the NHL’s true iron is showing everybody where the Black and Gold stand currently.
It’s just a little bit short of where they need to be, and it has been since coming back from the Christmas holiday break where they are 1-6-1 and have scored a paltry 17 goals over that period. It’s simply not good enough if they want to hang on to the tenuous playoff position, they still in within the Eastern Conference.
