In Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues, the Boston Bruins picked just one point.
That was one more than they deserved.
The Blues outshot the Bruins 31–17. A number of Joonas Korpisalo point-blank saves saved St. Louis from racking up points. Trent Frederic, who had gone 17 games without a goal, was the only Bruin to score (two at five-on-five).
By all accounts, the Bruins did not perform well at either end of the rink.
“We lost it in Dallas, and it was not there today,” coach Jim Montgomery said, alluding to the Bruins’ defensive performance in Thursday’s 7-2 defeat. “Offensively, we haven’t been there all year.”
What does this mean for the Bruins, other than being poor all around?
The Boston Bruins have a minus-17 goal differential. Only three clubs are worse: the Pittsburgh Penguins (minus-26), the Montreal Canadiens (minus-24), and the San Jose Sharks (minus-21).
The Canadiens (12 points) are the league’s poorest team. The Sharks (13) are only one point ahead of the Canadiens. Pittsburgh has 15 points and has already started selling, with Lars Eller being the first to go.
The Bruins’ current third-place standing in the Atlantic Division with 19 points is an illusion. Montgomery doesn’t have enough fingers for the dike, which appears to sprout new holes every game.
There is one constant throughout this 8-8-3 season: too many underperforming players placed on top of one other in an ever-growing pile.
Consider this: Brad Marchand and Elias Lindholm, two-thirds of the No. 2 line, combined for zero shots on Jordan Binnington. Marchand appeared to be what he is: a 36-year-old with a high mileage who hasn’t trained properly over the summer. You might say Lindholm is exactly what he is, at least during his first 18 games as a Bruin: a complementing center rather than a line-driver.
Every team will have one or two players that make mistakes at some point. The problem with the Bruins is that so many different areas of the squad are struggling at the same time. Pavel Zacha, the No. 1 center, took no shots on Saturday. Morgan Geekie, the No. 1 left winger, had one.
David Pastrnak put four pucks on net. It is hard, however, to recall any of them qualifying as threatening.
Montgomery remarked, “We didn’t have a lot of juice in the tank today.” “I’m not sure why we didn’t. We took a plane home yesterday. In order for us to have enough sleep for today, we slept overnight in Dallas. In the first, we had legs. After that, things kind of fell apart.
A rare sighting of Frederic was wasted. Prior to Saturday, Frederic’s only goal came in Game No. 1 against the Florida Panthers. He scored twice by going to the net, like he is obliged to do.
Georgii Merkulov started the sequence with a deft one-touch pass on Frederic’s first goal. Merkulov initially considered popping out to the right circle to one-time a Coyle pass on goal, as he recounted on Saturday. But when Merkulov saw Frederic open in front, he abruptly altered his mind. The game was tied at one when Merkulov passed the puck to Frederic for a fast shot.
Merkulov is a hub of nature. However, the Bruins shifted him to the left wing at number three since they are such in need of offensive help. He didn’t appear to be out of position when Frederic scored.
Merkulov remarked, “You’re trying to know what to do with the puck before you get the puck.” A one-timer was the reason I was popping off. Charlie, however, gave me a quick glance. I thus kept near the net.
Mason Lohrei fired a one-timer on goal, but Frederic arrived at the net-front just in time for his second goal. There was nothing Binnington could do to stop Frederic’s deflection.
“He was in the right places,” Montgomery remarked. “Freddy should be in the net front there.”
Don Sweeney wants to make the team better. Riley Tufte was also called back by the general manager on Saturday. Patrick Brown was sent to Providence by Sweeney. Montgomery, meanwhile, gave Johnny Beecher a good scratch.
However, these are ancillary transactions. They won’t make a difference.
For a true turnaround, the Bruins require more from its star players. It’s unclear if that will happen.
