Saturday night on Long Island, the Bruins played like a team playing their third game in four nights.
Tuukka Rask allowed his first soft goal of the season, the Bruins allowed their first shorthanded goal of the season, and the top line is once again being relied upon too much.
Here are three key takeaways from the Bruins' 4-2 loss to the Islanders as the black and gold are now 10-2-2 on the season.
1. Too many passengers at forward
If there are any hopes for a deep playoff run this year, the Bruins will need far more offensive production from the likes of Charlie Coyle, Anders Bjork, Jake DeBrusk and Craig Smith.
Unlike bottom-three energy forwards, these specific players are relied upon by coaches and teammates alike to provide consistent scoring — not at a top line rate, but enough to be a scoring threat each and every game.
So far this season, Coyle, Bjork, DeBrusk and Smith have combined for just 14 points. That's not acceptable.
Effort is no longer good enough for these individuals — they're in a results driven business and need to begin carrying their weight.
There's only so much scoring the Bergeron line can achieve before being worn down.
2. Bergeron and Marchand chemistry off the charts
For much of the game, the Bruins skated like a team that had played the night before.
It was apparent the Bruins didn't have the legs and energy to compete with a hard-working and well-structured Islanders team.
A few bright spots that did occur came off the sticks of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.
Midway through the first period, Bergeron found Marchand with a beautiful back-handed pass streaking through the slot for Marchand's ninth goal of the season.
Marchand would then later return the favor in the latter stages of the second period when he slid a pass back to a trailing Bergeron who was able to tie the game at two with his seventh goal of the season.
While consistent depth scoring may be an issue for the Bruins, not so much for the top line as they accumulated six points in defeat to the Islanders .
Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak have now combined for 46 points so far this season.
3. Bruins' top power-play unit continues to fail them
One of the key takeaways from Friday night's win over the Rangers was that the Bruins should revert back to having a defenseman on the top power-play unit.
"Without Charlie McAvoy's or Matt Grzelcyk's skating ability, this unit has had a hard time breaking out with speed and creating zone entries," we wrote. "Furthermore, once they do set up in the offensive zone they're getting too cute, looking for the perfect play rather than simplifying and getting shots to the net. They're also getting outnumbered to loose pucks which should never be the case on the man advantage."
Well, sure enough, passive play on the man advantage ended up costing them against the Islanders.
The Bruins were sloppy and out of position with five forwards on the ice and it directly led to a back-breaking shorthanded goal against.
After David Krejci and Nick Ritchie collided in pursuit of a loose puck, the Islanders took advantage of an odd-man rush and J.G. Pageau was able to beat Tuukka Rask for a 4-2 lead.
Hopefully now after multiple games of losing momentum on the power play, Bruce Cassidy will consider ridding of the five-forward power play unit.
