From the top line to the third defensive pair, the Boston Bruins hit a new low this season in their 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, their third loss in a row.
The Boston Bruins are only a quarter through the season, but have they already hit rock bottom? Probably a knee-jerk reaction, but comparing their standards with the results of the past three games, there's a case to be made.
Not only is Boston on a three-game losing streak, but they’ve lost three games without much contest. Their revered penalty kill was picked apart by the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-2 loss on Friday. A back-and-forth barn burner eventually got out of hand with sloppy play and low effort in a 7-4 loss against the New York Rangers on Saturday.
Then Monday, against one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference rather than a competitive division rival, Boston was dispatched 5-2 by the Columbus Blue Jackets. It’s the third game in a row the Bruins allowed five or more goals, which has not happened to them since 2012.
“I don’t pin it on the goalies,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery told reporters on Monday. “I pin it on the lack of cohesion in front of the goalies.”
The Bruins opened the game outshooting Columbus 5-2 through 6:06, but the Blue Jackets quickly picked up the pace and broke open the scoring at 15:52 of the first period with arguably the softest goal Jeremy Swayman has allowed this season.
Derek Forbort failed to control the puck on a defensive zone face-off, and despite successfully pinning Dmitri Voronkov in the corner, the 23-year-old forward wiggled his way free and somehow picked up the loose puck at the side of the net. His tight-angled shot hit Swayman directly in the glove and fell into the net, even with Swayman sealing off every other opening against the post with his body.
Voronkov helped Columbus double their lead at 5:38 of the second period, screening Swayman and allowing Ivan Provorov to score with a wrister around Kevin Shattenkirk, who was slow to close down on him, following a Forbort giveaway. Pavel Zacha had left the play to retrieve a new stick, essentially giving Columbus a 5-on-4 chance that they made sure to capitalize on.
Montgomery put Ullmark in net to shake things up, but the Blue Jackets kept piling up shots, outshooting Boston 19-9 in the second period alone. Finally at 16:42, Matt Grzelcyk turned the puck over at the Columbus blue line on a weak pass attempt to Brad Marchand. Yegor Chinakov immediately picked up the puck and cruised down for a breakaway and gave Columbus a commanding 3-0 lead.
“You can’t expect to give up three and four breakaways a night, and multiple 2-on-1s, and expect to win games,” Marchand said. “We need to be much tighter all over the ice defensively.”
A Kirill Marchenko 5-on-3 power-play goal and Justin Danforth empty-netter in the third period brought Columbus up to five, and Bruins goals from Matt Poitras – who made it 4-1 at 8:24 – and Johnny Beecher were not enough to turn the ship around.
In addition to the breakdown of the Forbort-Shattenkirk pairing, the Marchand-Zacha-Pastrnak line was outshot 4-1 at 5-on-5 and was on the ice for two Blue Jackets goals. From the top line down to the third defensive pair, the Bruins are out of sorts, with few exceptions. Now all eyes turn to Thursday’s matchup against the San Jose Sharks, the team with the fewest wins (4) and points (10) in the NHL.
“The message is we’re not playing to our standard that we believe is how we should play,” Montgomery said. “With the puck and without the puck. So there’s a lot of things to address and move forward, but we gotta move forward.”