David Pastrnak is finally scoring like David Pastrnak, leading the NHL in goals and points in the month of January. Jeremy Swayman is finally playing like an $8.25 million goalie, ranking fourth in goals saved above expected since Christmas. And yet, the Boston Bruins are playing their worst hockey of the season and sliding closer and closer to the “retool” path Cam Neely entertained last week.
After Wednesday night’s 5-1 beatdown at the hands of the New Jersey Devils, the Bruins are now 4-7-2 since Christmas, good for the fifth-worst record in the league over the past month. They have slipped to 10th place in the Eastern Conference, with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens all nudging ahead of them recently, and the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers threatening to do the same.
The most concerning trend for the Bruins has to be the complete collapse of their defensive structure. When Joe Sacco took over for Jim Montgomery on Nov. 19, he made it clear that if the team was going to turn around its season, it had to start with defense.
For a while, it looked like that turnaround was happening. In the month leading up to the holiday break, the Bruins had the third-best record in the NHL and one of the stingiest defenses, giving up the fewest high-danger chances in the league over that 16-game span. We covered that encouraging development in-depth just before Christmas. The idea that this team could lock it down defensively, get Swayman on track, add some offense at the trade deadline, and put it all together in time to make some noise in the spring didn't seem crazy.
In the past month, however, any and all progress has been completely erased. The Bruins’ defense hasn’t just reverted to where it was pre-coaching change; it’s been even worse than that. Over the last 13 games, they have given up the third-most goals per game in the NHL (3.69). Only the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks, the teams with the two worst records in the league, have surrendered more. That’s with Swayman playing better, not worse, during that time (.914 save percentage since Christmas vs. .887 before).
That shows you just how much the Bruins have hung their goalie out to dry. All the defensive analytics since Christmas are hideous. They rank 31st in shots allowed, ahead of only the Anaheim Ducks. Their penalty kill ranks 29th. They’re 31st in 5-on-5 shot attempts allowed, also ahead of just the Ducks. They’re 30th in expected goals against, ahead of the Blackhawks and Sharks. In high-danger chances allowed, that critical metric they had been so good in just one month prior, they’re 31st, with only Chicago behind them.
The Devils had 13 5-on-5 high-danger chances against Boston Wednesday night. It was the sixth time in 13 games since Christmas that the Bruins had allowed at least that many. They had done that just twice in 36 games before Christmas. As bad as things were under Montgomery at the start of the season, they had surrendered that many just once in his 20 games in charge.
Back-to-back Brandon Carlo and Jordan Oesterle turnovers led to one New Jersey goal Wednesday. A Mason Lohrei turnover behind the net led to another. A porous penalty kill surrendered the other three.
Maybe it’s the tougher schedule, with an easier stretch after the switch to Sacco simply allowing for a one-month mirage. Maybe it’s the absence of Hampus Lindholm and, more recently, Charlie McAvoy. Maybe this roster just isn’t good enough to play good defense for any prolonged period of time, on top of not having enough offensive weapons. Maybe it’s the coaching. Maybe the players aren’t buying in or working hard enough. Maybe it’s some combination, or all of the above.
Regardless, none of it suggests that this season deserves a short-term buy at the trade deadline, whether the Bruins remain on the playoff bubble or not. Upgrading the offense would have been challenging enough; adding a collapsed defense to the equation makes the problem unsolvable. During a stretch where this team needed to prove to management and ownership that they’re worth believing in, they have instead done the opposite.
“We're trying to find an answer in here. What we're doing is not good enough,” a frustrated Morgan Geekie said Wednesday night. “We know it. I mean, it's embarrassing, frankly, just the way that we're letting these games slip away from us, and there's not too many of these left.”
He’s right. Unfortunately, the answer may not be in the room, and it may not be a trade or two away either. The answers for next year and beyond might have to be found on Retool Road.