What was the dagger that killed this Bruins season once and for all? Was it a six-game losing streak in early January? Was it the back-to-back blowout losses to Buffalo and Winnipeg in late January? Was it the back-to-back blown third-period leads against the Rangers and Vegas just before the 4 Nations break? Was it the Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm injury news coming out of the break? Maybe this team is still clinging to enough life that the final dagger hasn’t come just yet.
Or maybe it was Tuesday night, when Boston blew a three-goal lead and suffered a fourth straight loss, this one to the rival Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime, 5-4. Maybe none of these blows have been fatal in and of themselves, but the collective effect is that the 2024-25 Bruins continue to slowly bleed out.
Through the first half of Tuesday’s game, the Bruins looked great. They were playing the best hockey they’ve played in a while. David Pastrnak opened the scoring just 29 seconds into the game, taking a perfect stretch pass from Mason Lohrei and finishing on a breakaway, extending his career-best point streak to 15 games in the process.
The oft-ridiculed power play stepped up to score two goals to push the lead to 3-0, the first from Brad Marchand and the second from the still-hot Morgan Geekie. Both came on rebounds, a reminder that the Bruins would be well served by simply putting more pucks on net on the man advantage.
Then the breakdowns began. Soft defensive-zone coverage gave Morgan Rielly too much space to walk into the left circle and snap off a shot that deflected in off Parker Wotherspoon’s leg. 3-1.
In the opening minute of the third period, Wotherspoon and Andrew Peeke gave Mitch Marner too much space on a Toronto power play as he snapped a shot past Jeremy Swayman from the slot. 3-2.
A few minutes later, Peeke couldn’t knock down a stretch pass, allowing Nick Robertson to race in behind him and beat Swayman glove-side – a shot you’d really like to get a save on. 3-3.
The Bruins actually still had one more push thanks to the white-hot Pastrnak, who stole a puck in deep and roofed a shot over Anthony Stolarz to give Boston a 4-3 lead with 9:27 to go. It was Pastrnak’s second goal of the game and 30th of the season, tying him with Phil Esposito and Rick Middleton for the most 30-goal seasons in Bruins history (8). He now has a ridiculous 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) during this 15-game point streak, which is the longest by a Bruin since Phil Kessel’s 18-gamer in 2008.
It could have salvaged the night. It still could have been a good win despite the blown lead. It could have been an MVP kind of moment for Pastrnak, who has clearly not given up yet and who continues to do everything he can to drag this team kicking and screaming into a playoff spot.
Unfortunately, these Bruins haven’t been big on feel-good moments. Once again, they couldn’t close out a win in a 6-on-5 extra attacker situation. A failed clear by Nikita Zadorov ended up in the back of the net seconds later off the stick of Pontus Holmberg. It was the kind of mistake – just a lack of execution in a key moment – that has cost this team over and over again.
Another misplay in overtime led to a Marner breakaway and a Leafs win. That one came from Lohrei, who was otherwise excellent Tuesday night, and who nearly scored on an aggressive drive to the net seconds earlier. So goes the rollercoaster.
And if all that wasn’t enough, the Bruins also lost Trent Frederic to injury early in the second period after he went down awkwardly on a hit from Jake McCabe. There was no update on Frederic after the game. If he were to miss a significant amount of time, it would kill his trade value and take the easiest-to-move piece off general manager Don Sweeney’s retool board.
Interim head coach Joe Sacco didn’t want to use the word “devastating” to describe this loss.
“I don’t look at it like it’s a devastating loss,” Sacco said. “Certainly, it’s not something that you want to have happen here. I thought for 40 minutes we were playing good. We gotta find a way, obviously, to secure that extra point.”
Marchand also tried to find silver linings while acknowledging the final result was “disappointing.”
“It was disappointing. Obviously, we can’t be giving up points right now,” Marchand said. “…I thought we played well. I mean, we definitely played good enough to win that game. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get both points, but we just gotta keep building. I thought we did a lot of good things.”
The time for moral victories has come and gone for this team, though. With the trade deadline now just nine days away, the Bruins needed to start stringing together actual victories. Instead, they have now lost four in a row and are just limping towards the seemingly inevitable sell-off.