The last time the Boston Bruins lost four games in a row, they were playing playoff hockey in a "bubble" in Toronto in August 2020, when they lost a second-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Until now, that is. The Bruins lost their fourth straight game Saturday night in Minnesota, falling to the Wild 3-2 in a game that wasn't as close as the score would suggest.
That is not the way anyone wants to go into a three-day Christmas break, but that's the Bruins' reality as they return home for some rest, relaxation and hopefully regrouping before they get back on the ice Wednesday in Buffalo.
How did the team that had the best record in the NHL for much of the first two months of the season wind up here? It's worth taking stock of what's gone wrong for these Bruins and what needs to change if they're going to come out of this break better than they're going into it.
It starts with their top players, who simply haven't been playing like top players recently. David Pastrnak has at least scored three goals during this four-game losing streak, including one on the power play Saturday. The rest of the Bruins have combined to score just four, though.
After a top line of Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha and Brad Marchand no-showed on Friday (minus-2, one combined shot on goal), coach Jim Montgomery moved Marchand to a line with Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk, and put Danton Heinen with Pastrnak and Zacha.
Neither line did much Saturday. The Bruins got out-attempted 20-12 with their top two lines on the ice. Pastrnak had four shots on goal, but no one else in that top-six group had more than one. Marchand and Heinen each had none. It was the third time in the last four games that Marchand didn't land a single shot on goal. DeBrusk and Coyle have each gone six games without a single point.
On defense, Charlie McAvoy is a minus-3 in the last three games and Hampus Lindholm is a minus-4 in the last four. Both were on the ice for the Wild's go-ahead goal in the second period, when Kirill Kaprizov found open space in the slot. Lindholm and Brandon Carlo both lost net-front battles on Minnesota's first goal, which came on the power play. Carlo also got outmuscled by Marcus Foligno on the Wild's third goal.
This isn't about X's and O's or line combinations. It's about will. It's about getting outplayed, outskated and outmuscled by their opponents, and they know it.
"I think it's will and compete, is what it comes down to," Marchand said after Saturday's loss. "It just seems like we're losing a lot of battles that we should be winning, and we're not having that second effort."
Montgomery tried to tap into a sense of pride in being a Boston Bruin before Saturday's game in order to get his team going.
"You wear the spoked B, you have to have pride that you wear the spoked B, and you have to maintain that degree of excellence that we expect from each other, and effort," Montgomery said during his pregame media availability. "That's what I'm talking about: effort. The execution, sometimes that can come and go. But the effort should always be there."
The effort was there early on Saturday. The Bruins actually started well. They drew an early penalty and immediately capitalized on the power play to go up 1-0. They played tight defense and took care of the puck, surrendering just five shots on goal in the period.
But then they got pinned in their own zone a couple times, Marchand took a roughing penalty late in the period, and all the momentum seemingly swung to the Wild as the second period began. Minnesota scored twice in the middle frame and outshot the Bruins 19-6, with two of those Boston "shots" coming on clears from their own zone.
"It seems like we get one unlucky break, and then we can't get out of it," Pastrnak said. "And then all of a sudden, it feels like everything is going the wrong way. It's definitely on us to reset and get out of there."
There are depth issues behind the top players, too, especially on defense. Injuries to Matt Grzelcyk and Derek Forbort, plus an apparent healthy scratch of Kevin Shattenkirk on Saturday, meant all of Mason Lohrei, Parker Wotherspoon and Ian Mitchell were in the lineup. They weren't the ones at fault on Saturday, though. Heck, Lohrei and Mitchell were actually on the ice for the only 5-on-5 goal the Bruins scored.
Up front, the Bruins robbed themselves of one potential secondary scorer when they sent Matt Poitras to World Juniors, a decision that looks a little more questionable as their offensive struggles continue. We made the case after Friday's loss for calling up Georgii Merkulov from Providence as something of a Poitras replacement. We'll see if the Bruins decide to do that at some point soon.
Any depth issues would be a lot less noticeable if the Bruins' top guys were performing, though. If they're going to turn things around after Christmas, it has to start there, not with lineup shuffling.
The Bruins don't need to panic. Even with this recent skid, they still have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and fourth-best in the NHL.
But they clearly do need to clear their heads and reset. Three days off and Christmas with family might be just what the doctor ordered. That's what they hope, at least.
"It'll give us an opportunity to step away from the game and have some fun with our families and get our minds off the game," Marchand said. "You know, when things aren't going your way, sometimes it's good to escape and come back with a fresh mind and be excited about playing again. So, hopefully we have one on the 27th."
