The Bruins had one regulation loss all season before Friday. Now they have two in a little over 24 hours, and both have been ugly. Boston followed up a 5-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden on Friday with a 7-4 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Billed as a showdown between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference – "the beasts of the East," as Bruins coach Jim Montgomery called them before the game – Saturday's game looked like anything but early on. Boston got off to arguably its worst start of the season and appeared to be in danger of getting run out of the building by the midway point of the first period.
It did turn into that kind of showcase for a little bit, though, with the Bruins rallying twice to tie the game 2-2 and 3-3. Ultimately, however, the Bruins never really found a way to slow the Rangers down, with their defense and a rare subpar outing from goalie Linus Ullmark spelling doom.
"I think it's a continuum," Montgomery said after the game, tying Saturday's issues to Friday's. "Because we played similarly -- not willing to forecheck, not willing to work for offense. And then the breakdowns defensively, we're not giving our goaltenders an opportunity, like we were before, of stopping the strong-side shot. They have to worry about the weak side. They have to worry about the back post. There's a lot of things that, unfortunately our habits and details have kind of eroded on us defensively here in the last two."
This one was all New York early on, and by the game's 11-minute mark, the Rangers had two goals and Boston didn't have a single shot on goal. A Johnny Beecher turnover set up Nick Bonino for the opening goal, while the second came on the power play when a shot tipped by Vincent Trocheck trickled behind Ullmark for an easy Chris Kreider tap-in.
Montgomery called a timeout before the game got away from his team any further, and it worked... for a little bit. The Bruins came roaring to life and tied the game with a pair of goals 24 seconds apart. Trent Frederic set up Charlie Coyle for the first, and Jakub Lauko set up Morgan Geekie for the second.
The Bruins got a chance to take the lead heading into the first intermission with a late power play, but instead more sloppy puck management set up a shorthanded breakaway goal from Kreider, his second tally of the period.
The rest of that power play carried over to the second period, and the Bruins scored on it 26 seconds in to tie the game again. Pavel Zacha made a nice play to keep the puck in the zone, and then David Pastrnak beat Jonathan Quick five-hole for his 13th goal of the season.
The Bruins finished the second period about as poorly as they started the first, though, and dug themselves another two-goal hole as a result. During a delayed penalty call, the Bruins found themselves hanging on for dear life as the Rangers swarmed, but couldn't hang on long enough, with Jimmy Vesey eventually burying a rebound chance.
The B's nearly got to the second intermission trailing by just one, but their rush defense – an issue much of the season – let them down again in the final minute. No one got back to pick up a trailing K'Andre Miller, and the Rangers defenseman stepped into a one-timer from the high slot that beat Ullmark glove-side.
Things didn't get any better for the Bruins in the third. Tyler Pitlick found open space right in front of Ullmark and buried a feed from Vesey to make it 6-3. After Coyle scored his second of the game to pull Boston back within two, Artemi Panarin pushed it to 7-4 when the Bruins left the seam wide open for a one-time feed.
It was the first time this season the Bruins allowed more than five goals in a game, and the third time they've allowed seven since the start of last season (including playoffs).
The Bruins' schedule has been brutal recently, with Saturday marking their fifth game in eight days and third game in less than four full days. That certainly could be a factor in some of the sluggishness and sloppiness, but it doesn't explain all of it. The Rangers have had the exact same schedule over the last eight days, and even had an extra road game in there.
The Bruins don't yet get much of a break schedule-wise, either, as they play again Monday night in Columbus. They at least get a bit of a break in terms of the opponent, though, as the Blue Jackets have the worst record in the Eastern Conference and fourth-worst in the NHL.
Still, the Bruins have to clean up their defense and puck management regardless of the opponent. Even the Blue Jackets can make them pay if they play like they have the last two games. Starting on time would be a plus, too.
"It's just about how we show up tomorrow," captain Brad Marchand said. "It's regular season. You can't dwell too much on the loss. I think there are areas we need to be better, and you show up and work hard at it. So, it's just about showing up tomorrow and try to get better, make sure that we all have our best efforts. But the worst thing we could do is overthink the situation. We're obviously not happy about it, the last two games, but we're sitting in a good spot. We've been playing good hockey, and it's just about getting back to that.
"It's not a time to panic or anything like that. We just have to get back to what we do well. It's very easy when you sit down and look at it on video to see where the holes are, where we're making mistakes. And also, on the flip side, when we're playing really well and things are going our way, how we're playing and how fast we're playing and how we're supporting each other. So, we'll take a look at all that tomorrow. Again, it's just about being up, being positive and getting ready to bounce back on Monday."
