This uninspired, frustrating end to the hockey season for the Boston Bruins was perhaps inevitable given the way things played out this year.
But it’s been tough to watch nonetheless as the B’s got drubbed on the road once again by a quality team with a 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena in a West Coast game on Sunday night.
This time it was a 4-2 contest entering the third period in what was a competitive game against a red-hot Los Angeles squad, but they allowed a score late in the second period and then collapsed in the third with just one shot on net in the final 20 minutes of the game. It continues a pattern of a combination of lack of talent and lack of real motivation combining right now to send the B’s off into defeat now six times in a row.
The B’s are in straight nosedive mode while other NHL organizations are making their playoff push. Instead, the Bruins seem to be making a concerted first-round lottery pick push by losing game after game with an undermanned crew of characters while playing youngsters and skaters acquired from other teams.
“The start, the competitiveness in the first and second period, those are the things when you’re going through a tough time that you want to see. There’s obviously been an opportunity for some young players that are coming into the league for the first time, or getting real opportunities for the first time,” said Joe Sacco to NESN following the game. “It’s obviously frustrating for us as a group right now because we’re not getting any results, but you’ve just got to stick with it. This is not an easy league, and the teams are not forgiving, but we just had too many breakdowns.
“Sometimes that creeps in and it’s frustrating at times. When you’re going through a stretch like this there are things you need to keep in mind: The pride for yourself, the pride for the organization…that is something that’s first and foremost. And it’s a privilege to play in this league and that is not something you can ever take for granted.”
The game highlights have become individual performances or plays within the game instead of team achievements, and this time around it was Jeremy Swayman very nearly getting into a center ice goalie fight with Darcy Kuemper in the second period. Kuemper had gotten into it with Marat Khusnutdinov in the second period around the LA net, and that encounter left Khusnutdinov buzzing around without a helmet.
The brouhaha prompted Swayman to skate out toward center ice and proactively challenge Kuemper, and it really looked like the goalies were going to tussle until linesmen Trent Knorr and Travis Toomey stepped in and stopped it from happening.
Clearly there is an edict from the NHL to avoid allowing the goalies to fight, a league stance that feels like it’s been in place since Brent Johnson pretty much ended Rick DiPietro’s career back in the 2010-11 season.
But it feels like a massive hockey joy kill to step in and prevent two willing goaltender combatants that want to tangle with each other in an otherwise forgettable late-season game for the Black and Gold.
“He touched one of my guys and that's something that I'm not gonna accept. Kudos to him...he stepped up [to fight],” said Swayman. “But it got broken up. It comes down to sticking up for your teammates...I don't care who it is."
Just let the goalies fight, for goodness sakes pic.twitter.com/NZ8wAp9uLh
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) March 24, 2025
Aside from the near Swayman hockey fight and a decent start to the game, however, it is more of the same for a Bruins team that is utterly collapsing before our collective eyes. Swayman, by the way, has an .868 save percentage in the month of March and was lit up for seven goals on 23 shots in a performance that was a mixture of soft goals, lax defense and a Bruins team that simply broke down in the third period.
It's admirable that the Bruins players left to pick up the pieces late in the season want to do better and hope to pull Boston out of this late season tailspin, but it’s also counter-productive to moving up higher with their 2025 first round pick at the NHL Draft. Amazingly, the Bruins are still just six points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the final wild-card spot in the playoffs, but it honestly feels more like they’re 30 points out of a postseason spot at this point.
“I wish I knew (how to end this losing streak),” said Casey Mittelstadt, who must be having flashbacks to his Buffalo days at this point. “I think it comes down to just coming out and playing hard. Obviously, you get in a slump like this and maybe you’re gripping your stick a little more than normal. It comes down to just coming out and playing your game, playing with some poise and some calm.”
The growing pains are obvious for some of the young guys. Mason Lohrei is undoubtedly talented, but he’s also a team-worst minus-14 in 12 games during the month of March while carrying a lot of water with Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy out of the lineup. David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie are obviously carrying the offense, but Elias Lindholm and Cole Koepke have stepped up their offensive production while Mittelstadt has been steady offensively since his arrival.
The bright side is that the Bruins will get long looks at some of their youngster and newly acquired pieces in these final dozen or so games, and that will help them build something new for next season and beyond. Hopefully at that point this season’s bummer of an ending will be a long-forgotten footnote for the players stuck finishing out the string for a hockey team going absolutely nowhere this season.
