This is my fault this is getting posted this late. - Bedard
Sometimes, a hockey team mired in a losing streak has to scratch and claw its way out of the extended funk, and that’s exactly what’s happening right now to a Bruins team operating in fits and starts.
The struggling hockey team lost its sixth game in a row on Monday night in a 2-1 overtime defeat at the hands of the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome but did get a point in solid defensive effort that is getting back to the basics that have given the Black and Gold success this season. Still, there were some of the same old issues, including handing Calgary five power plays, as a Jonathan Aspirot high-sticking penalty at the third period buzzer set up the Flames for their PP goal during the 3-on-3 overtime session.
Jonathan Aspirot on his penalty to end the 3rd period:
— NESN (@NESN) December 30, 2025
"Can't get caught like that... can't get a high stick there. It's on me." pic.twitter.com/3rKPiGvPEu
“Yeah, that’s a tough one. There was nothing left on the clock and we take a penalty like that,” said Marco Sturm. “We did a pretty good job [in the third period] but you’ve got to know what kind of time is on the clock there and control your stick.”
It was the first overtime loss in four tries for the Bruins this season and continues what’s been a true slog for the B’s around the holiday season.
“These things just feel like they are harder to get out of than [with] a normal win, and we’re feeling that right now,” said Sean Kuraly, who picked up an assist on Boston’s only goal of the game scored when Andrew Peeke successfully crashed the net with the puck. “We just need to stick with it and we’re going to get out of it. If we stick together than we are going to get out of it sooner.”
The overtime loss did allow the Bruins to hop over the Ottawa Senators in the Atlantic Division standings and push themselves a little further away from the basement spot in the division, but they are going to head into the New Year outside the playoff structure. They will also have ground to make up with every other team in their division, as everybody, outside the Detroit Red Wings, holds two games in hand over the Black and Gold.
Still, the B’s are also only two points out of a playoff spot currently, and a future stretch of winning is going to dramatically change their standing if they can get out of their current funk. There were some encouraging signs with the defensive effort put forth by the Bruins, with the last second Aspirot penalty as the only blemish on an otherwise stellar third period where they held Calgary to just a single shot on net while pushing for a much-needed victory.
A hockey team usually begins to show signs they will emerge from their losing streak before the victories start happening again, and the loss to Calgary felt like one of those games as they try to get themselves above water.
“It’s a point…A point is a point. You will take that anytime on the road. Of course, you want two points, but I feel good about that point,” said Sturm. “We want to build on that. We have to. It’s a tough league…I’ve said that a lot. You’ve got to sometimes start with the little things.”
The natural tendency at this time of the NHL regular season is to perhaps cut corners a bit to create more offense, and that is exacerbated by the B’s current situation with Morgan Geekie (zero points and a minus-3 in the last four games) and David Pastrnak (2 goals and 3 points but a minus-5 rating) not exactly firing on all cylinders.
The good news is the healthy return of Aspirot will help fortify the back end even if he was the fall guy for the late penalty that ultimately proved to be their undoing in overtime with Connor Zary scoring just as the Calgary PP was going to expire. It all should allow the Bruins to clog things up defensively, become tougher to play against in their own end again and even improve on an overworked penalty kill that’s been sputtering and allowing goals during every game amidst the six-game losing streak.
But the one thing in their control that needs to improve is the number of stick fouls that they are taking, and the need to avoid those by skating and playing good, physical hockey without resorting to reaching, tripping or hooking.
“It’s kind of a repeat answer. It’s a commitment to checking with our legs,” said Andrew Peeke. “You are going to take penalties during a game, there is no doubt about that. But the stick ones…we need to use our legs and be physical and use our bodies instead of our sticks in a lot of instances.”
With points at a premium, it is losses like those to teams like Calgary that will come back to bite the Bruins at the end of the season with the playoff margin looking to be as thin as it’s ever been. But those wondering if this season is going to ultimately take the same path of last season have to consider A) how close the standings are right now and therefore how close the B’s are to a playoff spot and B) that another full fire sale of players is very unlikely unless they get the same kind of catastrophic injuries that doomed them at the end of last season.
Instead, it is the classic sports axiom: A team isn’t as good as its best winning streaks and not as bad as its worst losing streaks in any individual season. Still, a pair of six game losing streaks in the same season are going to require equal and opposite winning streaks of the same magnitude if they have playoff hopes.
“We’re trying to win games here. There is no consolation prize in getting a point,” said Kuraly. “The name of the game is getting points. We get it to overtime and we just need to finish it off. But there is a part of this that’s gripping [the sticks] a little tight. No wins in this league are easy, so it’s going to be hard [getting out of the streak] no matter what.”
It doesn’t get any easier with a stop in Edmonton next on the schedule, but the road games in Vancouver and Seattle to end the trip could be chances for the B’s to right the ship and turn this entire road swing into righting the ship.