The Boston Bruins are not an entertaining product right now. They have now lost six in a row following Sunday night’s 7-2 beatdown at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings, and they continue to struggle mightily to land shots on goal, recording just 13 (13!!!) in this one.
There could have at least been an entertaining moment Sunday night, though. Unfortunately, the officials weren’t feeling the Hollywood spirit of showbiz and robbed us all of a goalie fight.
Here was the setup: Bruins forward Marat Khusnutdinov got bumped into Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper late in the second period. Kuemper responded by ripping Khusnutdinov’s helmet off and throwing a jab, which started a scrum.
Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, who has unsuccessfully sought out fights before, decided to challenge Kuemper, skating out to center ice and pointing in Kuemper’s direction. Kuemper accepted, charging out to center ice himself. Both goalies dropped their gloves and Swayman removed his helmet. Go time.
Except… referee Graham Skilliter and linesmen Trent Knorr and Travis Toomey all intervened, preventing the two goalies from actually trading punches.
BOOOOOOO. Do they not know how desperately those of us who have stayed up for these miserable West Coast games could have used that?
Anyways, about the rest of the game. It was still miserable. The Bruins did take a 1-0 lead just 19 seconds into the contest on an Elias Lindholm goal, but gave it back two minutes later as Anze Kopitar got in behind the defense and finished with a nice forehand-backhand move around Swayman.
The Bruins were held without a shot on goal for the final 11:42 of the first period, and fell behind on yet another goal in the final minute of a period when Warren Foegele somehow found a soft spot in front between four B’s.
Morgan Geekie tied the game 2:07 into the second off a Kings defensive-zone turnover, but the Bruins offense would again go quiet as the period went on. Outside of an active power play that saw them land four shots on goal, Boston would register just two shots at 5-on-5 the rest of the period.
The Kings, meanwhile, scored two more goals to go up 4-2 by the end of the second. Drew Doughty blasted a long rebound past Swayman, and then Adrian Kempe won a race to a loose puck and found an open Andrei Kuzmenko for a shot that beat Swayman blocker-side.
L.A. added another early in the third when Quinton Byfield got some open ice off the rush and ripped another shot that beat Swayman blocker-side. Tanner Jeannot and Samuel Helenius piled on with goals six and seven.
Simply put, the Bruins are just really bad at both ends of the ice right now. Their gaps and decision-making defending the rush are poor. They’re losing guys in coverage and not tying up sticks in front. And they’re not getting enough saves.
Swayman finished with seven goals against on 23 shots Sunday. The fourth, fifth and seventh goals, at the very least, were stoppable. He has now given up four or more goals in four straight starts, going 0-4-0 with an ugly .815 save percentage in that time.
On offense, the Bruins finished with 13 shots on goal Sunday. It was the eighth straight game they’ve been held to 25 shots or fewer, extending the franchise record since the NHL began officially recording shots on 1959-60. They’re the fourth NHL team in the last 10 years to have such a streak, joining the 2018-19 Oilers, 2022-23 Red Wings, and this year’s Blackhawks.
Drilling down further, the Bruins have been held to 20 shots or fewer in four of the last five games, and they’ve been held under 15 in two of those. They have also now been held under 10 shots on goal in 16 straight periods. They had one (1!) in the third period Sunday.
Probably in part because the game unraveled the way that it did, there was not much postgame excitement regarding Swayman's near-fight. Nikita Zadorov, in fact, sounded downright exasperated when asked about it, suggesting that perhaps Swayman's antics were not entirely appreciated by his teammates.
There’s not much to be excited about right now, other than dreams of a high draft pick. Maybe a goalie fight would have been exciting to watch, but the refs wouldn't even give us that.