Losing back-to-back games to the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers was one thing. Those defeats on Friday and Saturday weren't pretty, but at least they came against two of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.
Getting run off the ice by the Columbus Blue Jackets, the worst team in the East, is something else. That's what happened to the Bruins on Monday, though, as they suffered an embarrassing 5-2 loss that extended their losing streak to three games and left them searching for answers all over the ice.
Boston coach Jim Montgomery tried several acts of desperation to spark his team. He made an in-game goalie change for the first time this season, yanking Jeremy Swayman at 2-0 and inserting Linus Ullmark. He changed up all four of his lines in the second period. He pulled Ullmark for an extra attacker with over seven minutes left in the game and deployed a wild five-forward, one-defenseman unit.
None of it worked. The reality is that the Bruins were doomed well before Montgomery got around to any of that. Their problems ran deeper than goaltending or lineup chemistry, although there have certainly been issues in both of those areas as well.
As Montgomery said when NESN's Andy Brickley asked him about pulling Swayman, the Bruins had "no life."
"I thought every part of our game was tough," Montgomery added.
It sure was. Their puck management was poor. That led to more odd-man rushes and breakaways, something that has been an issue much of the season. A Matt Grzelcyk misplay at the offensive blue line led to one of the Blue Jackets' goals, a Yegor Chinakhov breakaway tally.
Their general decision-making was lacking, too. Columbus' second goal came when Pavel Zacha decided to flee the defensive zone after breaking his stick to get a new one. The problem was that it was the second period with the long change, meaning Zacha essentially just handed the Blue Jackets a mini-power play. By the time he got his new twig and started skating back, Columbus had scored.
The Bruins weren't physical enough, losing too many battles down low for a third straight game. On the Blue Jackets' first goal, Kevin Shattenkirk and Derek Forbort both lost battles below the goal line, and then Dmitri Voronkov muscled his way to the front between Forbort and Morgan Geekie before sneaking a shot between Swayman and the post – a shot Swayman should have stopped.
They weren't disciplined enough, either, which has been another ongoing issue. They gave the Blue Jackets five power plays, and three of them came from just not being in control of their sticks. Danton Heinen and Jakub Lauko both took hooking penalties, while Hampus Lindholm went for high-sticking. After Lauko's hook, Lindholm fired the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty 28 seconds later to give the Blue Jackets an extended 5-on-3, which they scored on to make it 4-0.
The Bruins didn't create nearly enough offensively. Their top line of Brad Marchand, Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak had an especially tough night. When they were on the ice at 5-on-5 play, the Bruins got out-attempted 9-3, outshot 4-1, and outscored 2-0. They've been far too quiet for the last week. Over the last four games, the Bruins have been outshot 20-8 and outscored 3-0 with them on the ice.
Montgomery finally had enough, and those three finished the game on three different lines. Pastrnak wound up with Danton Heinen and Matt Poitras (who scored his first goal in 10 games in one of the night's lone positive developments), Marchand joined with Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk, and Zacha found himself centering James van Riemsdyk and Morgan Geekie.
The Bruins are obviously not as bad as they've been these last three games. They still have the third-best record in the NHL and the second-best goal differential in the East. They had a dominant win over the Florida Panthers – another one of the league's best teams – less than a week ago.
However, they clearly have a lot to work on right now. With such a condensed schedule (Monday was their sixth game in 10 days), they have had little time for practices, with their last one coming last Sunday. They will have Tuesday off to lick their wounds and regroup as they return to Boston. Then they'll finally get a full practice day Wednesday before hosting the San Jose Sharks – another bottom-feeder – on Thursday.
"That should help everything," Montgomery said of getting to practice for the first time in a week and a half.
The Bruins better hope so. No one's panicking yet, but they can't let these poor performances pile up more than they already have.
