After an encouraging three-game start to the regular season, the Bruins have run headlong into adversity on the West Coast trip.
The Bruins dropped their third straight game with a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday night that stands as their worst setback of the season, and there was very little response from the forward group after Marco Sturm shook up the lines headed into the game.
Sturm broke up the B’s top line, separating Morgan Geekie from David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm, and instead sliding Czech countryman Pavel Zacha up with Pastrnak on Boston’s top line. It all resulted in Pastrnak’s worst game of the season with zero shots on net, three giveaways, and a minus-2 rating that saw No. 88 not take another shift with a season-low 13:53 of ice time after a careless power play performance midway through the third period.
It looked like David Pastrnak didn't play following that final power play possession for the Bruins where he made some pretty poor decisions with the puck. That was halfway through the third period. Marco Sturm making some bold choices in this loss tonight
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) October 19, 2025
To put it in perspective, Pastrnak had exactly one game last season where he didn’t get even one shot on net and logged that low an ice time workload.
In a spot where they needed something out of their power play, Pastrnak first threw a spinning, no-look pass to nobody from the blue line playing out by the point and then fired a blast directly into an opposing penalty killer’s shin pads. After that, he didn’t hit the ice again for a meaningful shift, including when the Bruins pulled the goaltender and put Johnny Beecher out on the ice in that key scoring situation after playing a strong game for the Black and Gold in his season debut.
Pastrnak wasn’t alone as Geekie, Lindholm and Casey Mittelstadt all finished without a shot on net, and Beecher finished the game as Boston’s best forward amid a group with too many turnovers and not enough production or puck possession.
Johnny Beecher with his first of the season #ProBlue pic.twitter.com/sn2lmjxOp9
— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) October 19, 2025
“My grinders were the best players again. And if your grinders are your best players rather than your best players, then you are in trouble,” said Sturm to NESN’s Andy Brickley after the game was concluded.
It was a familiar refrain from Sturm over the last few games as he’s lamented that the opposition’s best players have been better than his over the last few games, and it’s difficult to ascertain if it’s strictly a talent issue or at least partially a problem with too many passengers on the Bruins train.
“We had to match their intensity every shift. Kudos to them…they came out flying and it was our job to match that intensity for 60 minutes,” said Jeremy Swayman. “Just do my job. Everybody in here just does their job to the best of their abilities. That’s why I believe in this team so much because we have great hockey players and quality human beings in this room.
“I know it’s going to turn because of the positivity we keep in this locker room and the belief we keep in this locker room to a man. We see spurts in these games that we can be an elite hockey team so it will turn.”
It wasn’t all negative, of course, as Swayman made 34 saves and was a major part of a Boston penalty kill that shut down the Avalanche power play, and Hampus Lindholm returned to the B’s lineup and played 20:44 of ice time while looking healthy.
“That’s why [Swayman] played again tonight because he was outstanding and the penalty kill was outstanding,” said Sturm. “I thought our ‘D’ overall did their job and our grinders. I think it’s four games in a row now that they’ve been our best players.
“It doesn’t matter, the shot difference. You’re in a 2-1 hockey game [at the start of the third period.] That bothered me that we just didn’t take advantage. Our top guys were not the top guys again. If you look at Colorado and at our team, well that’s the difference. That’s just the way it is. It doesn’t matter what team you are, your best players need to be your best players. And that was the biggest disappointment tonight.”
None of it feels like rock bottom for the Bruins, of course, but instead it feels like the new head coach trying to get everybody fully on the same page as Boston wages battle against teams with more talented casts, a plight that is going to be a common occurrence they’ll have to successfully work through this season.
ONE TIMERS
• A great response from a number of players down in Providence that were among the last cuts from NHL training camp, and certainly had to be disappointed that they didn’t make the NHL club out of camp. But rather than sulking about it, the players showed they’re going to be ready when they get the call.
Fabian Lysell headlined the crew with his first career hat trick as a pro in Providence’s season opener, but all of the young Bruins skaters that fell a little short came out of the gate firing for the P-Bruins. Alex Steeves (three goals, six points) and Georgii Merkulov (one goal, six points) are the team’s leading scorers after three games, and Lysell (three goals, five points), Matej Blumel (2 goals, five points) and Matt Poitras (four assists) are right behind for a Providence crew that’s off to a perfect 3-0-0 start.
Unbelievable set up by Matthew Poitras as Fabian Lysell goes for a hat trick.
— |GC| (@_gc24) October 12, 2025
21(51) assisted on all 3.
Thinking some chemistry was just unlocked between the two this afternoon. 👀#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/QCFjY9UGER
“It’s good to see Fabian watch a couple of pucks go in the net. For offensive guys it’s always good that they can see the puck go in and start building that confidence. It’s a big part of the game, obviously, feeling good and playing good,” said Ryan Mougenel to Mark Divver on his Rinkside Rhode Island website last weekend. “The big thing for us is we want guys’ games in a really good place when they go up. It’s not always necessarily the stat sheet. It’s the wall play, stick details. Those are the things that give you protection and longevity in the NHL and those are the habits we’re trying to build into a lot of our young players like Fabian. Sometimes it takes time.
“I liked that he shot the puck tonight. My favorite goal was the second goal. He went to the net and that’s what happens when you go to the net. He got rewarded.”
• Don’t expect to ever see Marco Sturm rolling out seven defensemen while he’s head coach of the Boston Bruins.
“I personally am not a big fan. I never was as a player, and as a coach. Especially in a back-to-back game with the schedule like that,” said Marco Sturm. “It messes the D up, it messes the forwards up. You want to have a routine and one partner all the time, and not a different guy every time you step on the ice. Does it happen once in a while? Yeah, maybe…but not with me.”
Interesting, reasonable take from the B’s bench boss that makes total sense with a pretty specific set of circumstances ever really calling for that situation in an NHL game.