As the Bruins once again fell a little short in a frustrating game against a team below them that they’re fighting with for a wild card playoff spot, changes are already beginning to happen for a hockey club screaming out for the deck to be reshuffled.
Earlier in the day, Oliver Wahlstrom was placed on waivers after scoring one goal in 16 games after coming over to the Bruins on waivers from the New York Islanders. He was in the center of the circle after morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena ahead of a game against his former Isles team, but hours later he was perhaps serving as a harbinger of more consequences to come for a hockey team that flat out hasn’t been as good as they should have been.
The final straw was a high-sticking penalty in the offensive zone for Wahlstrom against the Maple Leafs that was a key turning point in the Bruins blowing a three-goal lead against Toronto.
Full credit to captain Brad Marchand for trying to keep it positive and for casting aside questions about frustration and guys playing tight in the postgame room, but even No. 63 is now essentially talking about this current B’s season in the past tense.
“The biggest thing when you go through adversity, and it hits you in all different ways, it just tests your character. There are ways to find to work through it and the way you do that is as a group,” said Marchand. “It’s what builds great bonds and friendships is when you go through this adversity together. It hasn’t been the season we wanted, and we aren’t having the success we usually have at this time of year.
“At the end of the day, we may not achieve what we want to this year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t build to achieve something greater [down the line] and bring it back next year. We’re going to work every single day to improve and build our game, and we’ll claw and fight every single game to get into the playoffs here.”
Say this for Marchand, it sure sounds like a guy that has every intention of returning to captain this team next season as his long-term future has been cast into question during this lost season.
The game had all the markings of a hockey team that has found ways to lose this season and has now lost five games in a row at a pivotal time of the year. They outshot the Isles 15-6 in the first period and got off to a great start where Ilya Sorokin made save after save, but a tough bounce at the end of a B’s power play turned into a 2-on-1 where Alexander Romanov finished top corner against Jeremy Swayman.
An absolute rifle from Romanov #Isles pic.twitter.com/rrt84yMONS
— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) February 28, 2025
It was a good shot, to be sure, but it also needs to be something that Swayman should have stopped on a night where Sorokin was on top of things at the other end.
“The shot got blocked and we’re in a 1-3-1 structure, so it was a good block by them and they go down 2-on-1 against us. We defended it the way we wanted to in order to keep it to the outside,” said Joe Sacco, who was then asked about Sorokin. “I think the goalie was really good for them tonight. I think he was the difference in the game. It seemed like we had enough good, quality chances, but [Sorokin] was really good.”
Once the Isles were up by a pair of goals it was up to Sorokin to make 38 saves and it was up to a Bruins team that once again couldn’t find a way to push for at least an overtime point in another regulation loss.
Now the Bruins are four points behind for a wild card playoff spot and they also would have to jump over both the Senators and the Rangers to get into the dance. That’s that kind of spot where they are technically in it mathematically-speaking, but they don’t have a shot while dropping games without their top two defensemen (Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm) in their lineup.
This is why Don Sweeney correctly gauged this as a losing proposition last weekend and why Bruins management is preparing to make some changes to a core group that just hasn’t come together this season like they have year’s past.
It is time to embrace the change that’s coming to a Black and Gold group that sorely needs it and shows it on the ice every time they find a new way to lose when time is running out on the regular season.
“It just goes to show how hard it is to win in this league and how good the teams are that we are playing against,” said Swayman. “We’ve won games that we shouldn’t have, and we’ve lost games that we should have won. It’s something that we need to build on and keep a confident mindset because we’re playing good hockey, and the bounces will come, the goals will come and the wins will come.”
There’s only so long that players can say “the goals will come” and “the wins will come” at this point in the season in a results-oriented place like the NHL. Instead, the trades are going to be coming to this Bruins group and change is going to be coming for a hockey team that feels like it needed a shakeup.
They tried a minor one earlier in the season when they fired Jim Montgomery after 20 games and there was another minor tremor this week with Wahlstrom getting waived, but most can see now that bigger alterations are needed for a Boston Bruins group that’s underwhelmed at nearly every turn this season.