The Boston Bruins had a third-period lead in each of their final two games before a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. They ended up with zero points. After giving up two third-period goals and losing to the New York Rangers in regulation on Wednesday, they did the same thing in a 4-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at TD Garden on Saturday.
The winning goal came on a Vegas power play with 1:10 left in the game, with North Chelmsford native Jack Eichel setting up Tomas Hertl. Special teams were once again a deciding factor, with Vegas going 2-for-4 on the power play and the Bruins 0-for-1. The Rangers’ winning goal on Wednesday came shorthanded, during a Boston power play.
The collapse really started late in the second period. Despite spending much of that period in their own end, the Bruins had a 3-1 lead, and should have carried that two-goal lead into the third. Instead, a Zach Whitecloud shot from the point somehow squeaked through Jeremy Swayman and trickled over the line with 34 seconds left in the period.
A defensive breakdown allowed Vegas to tie the game 4:54 into the third. Charlie McAvoy and Oliver Wahlstrom both closed out on Eichel as he entered the zone, and neither picked up Shea Theodore as he jumped into the rush and slipped behind them. Theodore then set up Pavel Dorofeyev on the doorstep.
The Bruins simply could not afford these last two third periods. Not at this point in the season. Not going into a two-week break, with just seven games to play on the other side before the March 7 trade deadline. Not when every point matters as they try to stay afloat on a crowded playoff bubble (as of Saturday evening, they’re 11th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage). Not as the front office tries to decide which path to pick when it comes to their deadline approach.
Speaking of which, there was an update on that front during the third period courtesy of NHL insider Emily Kaplan on the ABC broadcast.
“The Bruins are one of those X-factor teams,” Kaplan said. “Management has talked about taking two paths depending on their place in the standings. What I can tell you is they're listening to a lot right now, both adding and subtracting. The guys they are getting a bunch of calls on are Trent Frederic, Morgan Geekie, even Brandon Carlo. I know everyone wants to know what is going to happen to Brad Marchand, who is a pending UFA. Other teams I’ve talked to don’t believe Boston is willing to trade him, but I think we could have said the same thing about Mikko Rantanen two weeks ago. So, you never know.”
That the Bruins are working both sides of the street isn’t surprising. President Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney have both told us that they could opt to buy or retool depending on how the team is playing as the deadline gets closer.
Kaplan’s report also aligns with a similar report from Jimmy Murphy over at RG.org earlier Saturday, one that also mentions Frederic, Geekie and Carlo as players who “appear to be drawing serious interest.” Murphy also quotes an NHL executive as saying, “I know they’ve looked like both buyers and sellers lately, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they wind up doing both.”
That might sound like a middle, indecisive path, but it’s really not. If you listen to The Skate Podcast, you’ve probably heard me mention this same possibility in some recent episodes. If done correctly, it could accelerate a retool.
The Bruins could trade away a couple pieces that they determine are not going to be a part of their future and get either draft picks or prospects in return. That would be the selling part. Then they could also trade for a player or two who has term on their contract and who would be a part of their future, possibly even using the assets they get from selling. That would be the buying part.
Who those players could be is a bit of an unknown at this point. The Bruins are believed to have at least checked in on both J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson before the Canucks dealt Miller to the Rangers, but it didn’t seem like they ever got particularly close to striking a deal. Maybe Dylan Cozens or Alex Tuch in Buffalo would be next on the list? Or Jordan Kyrou in St. Louis?
That kind of a buy – one that potentially helps the Bruins still make the playoffs this year, but more importantly lands them a core piece moving forward – could make sense. The kind of buy that would seemingly make no sense at this point would be trading a valuable asset for a rental.
Nothing about what we’ve seen from this team this season would justify that kind of short-term investment. They rank 25th in goals scored, 23rd in goals allowed, 30th on the power play, 25th on the penalty kill, and 22nd in 5-on-5 expected goals share.
Maybe the players still believe this team can do something this season. Athletes are wired to never stop believing. Maybe this break will do them some good and they’ll come out of it on fire and give management something to think about.
“It’s do-or-die for us,” Nikita Zadorov said. “We wasted the last two games. Four points, it could cost us. It could not. We’ll see. I mean, there’s no quit in this room. We gotta come ready and we gotta compete.”
As things stand now, however, Sweeney, Neely and company have 57 games of evidence staring them in the face as they try to determine what this team is and which path they should choose. It’s hard to imagine a handful of games after 4 Nations could really change any conclusions.