Boston Bruins
“That was the disappointing part of today. That we just came out flat.”
The Bruins flunked their college-themed “Homecoming Game” on Thursday night, falling to the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 in one of the season’s more anticipated games.
First place in the Atlantic Division was up for grabs on Thursday, with a potential win over a skilled Habs team standing as another impressive statement made by Marco Sturm’s club.
But for all of the pomp drawn from Thursday’s showdown between two longtime rivals, the Bruins had no answer once the puck was dropped — with Montreal scoring five unanswered goals and chasing Jeremy Swayman from the game.
With the loss, Boston falls to 13-5-1 this season — now slipping to third place in the division behind both Montreal and Tampa Bay.
Here are six takeaways from Thursday’s letdown:
A sluggish start dooms Boston
There was no shortage of energy in Boston’s barn ahead of puck drop — given the stakes involved with this latest clash between Original Six foes, the debut of Boston’s new “Hometown Remix” sweaters, or Northeastern University’s pep band serenading the teams as they skated out on the TD Garden ice.
It’s been quite some time since a Bruins/Canadiens game had as much juice as this one — only for it to dissipate in short order once the Habs began skating in circles around Boston.
Just 2:34 into the game, Kirby Dach opened the scoring for the visitors — taking advantage of a dormant Bruins defensive structure and tucking a puck past Swayman to quell some of the early cheers.
Montreal doubled its lead just six minutes later — with Josh Anderson batting a rebound into twine after outmuscling Mason Lohrei right at Swayman’s doorstep.
At that point in the game, the Canadiens were already outshooting Boston, 10-2, and were playing to their strengths as a fleet-footed club that dictated the pace across the ice.
“Overall it was just very, very flat,” Marco Sturm said postgame. “And all of a sudden we’re down 2-0 because of it. So that, for me, that was the disappointing part of today. That we just came out flat.”
Despite Boston’s impressive record, Sturm’s club has been prone to some slow starts this year — a recurring theme that David Pastrnak believes finally proved costly on Thursday.
“That’s something we’ve been struggling with the whole season, but we were able to come into the games and, overall — end up winning,” Pastrnak said. “So [we] kind of forget about the bad starts, but against a team like Montreal, it’s unacceptable to start like that. … A skilled team like Montreal, you know they’re gonna punish you. And yeah, definitely [an] unacceptable start and something we know we have to harp on and be better, especially those first 10 minutes.”
Speed kills
The good news? The Bruins ramped up their shot volume and O-zone pressure in the tail end of the first period and for a solid portion of the following frame.
But even with several Grade-A looks, the Bruins could not break the ice against Montreal goalie and Boston College product Jacob Fowler (30 saves).
And as the Bruins ramped up the pressure and stayed aggressive, it opened the door for Montreal to strike down the other end of the ice — with both Jake Evans and Cole Caufield scoring less than four minutes apart to turn Thursday’s game into a lopsided affair.
Evans’s tally saw him slip past Lohrei before tucking the puck through Swayman’s five-hole with a backhand attempt — while a Pastrnak turnover at the blue line was all Caufield needed to skate in unopposed before rifling his offering into the back of the net.
“Especially in the second period, we came out a little bit swinging and had a good push there,” Sturm said. “I really liked it, but then we almost were too aggressive, and you could see it, having two breakaways against.
“I can’t remember when that happened. Probably a year ago against Montreal, actually. Soon as that happened, I knew we were just not on the same page today, unfortunately.”
Swayman gets the hook
Caufield’s breakaway tally was all Sturm needed to see before pulling Swayman — marking the first time this season that he’s pulled a starting netminder.
Swayman exited after giving up four goals on 17 shots, with 28:14 of ice time standing as the third-shortest start of his career.
“Stop them,” Swayman said when asked what he would have done differently on each of those four tallies.
It was far from Swayman’s sharpest showing of the season, although his teammates were quick to put the blame on themselves for his early hook — with poor defending at the net front and two breakaway chances not exactly making the netminder’s life any easier on Thursday.
“It’s definitely not on Sway,” Frederic Brunet said. “It’s just plays in front of the net. … We’ve got to be better and give him some shots that aren’t Grade-A’s. And I mean, that’s on us.
“And the fact that he got pulled — it’s probably to change the momentum and try to do something different, but it’s definitely not on him, and we got to be better for him. And he’s been saving some games for us, and I think he deserves better.”
Despite the early hook, Swayman had no qualms with Sturm making the call to replace him with Michael DiPietro (one goal allowed on 14 shots).
“You never want to do that, and you care so much — especially when you’re feeling good, which I was,” Swayman said of getting pulled. “And again, I trust Marco 100 percent in his decisions. And I think at that time, that was a great call. And again, I think we responded well. As you can tell, we had a good push. So whatever it takes for us to get that push is what we needed.”
Mittelstadt gives Bruins some life
The switch to DiPietro didn’t pay immediate dividends, as Phillip Danault made it 5-0 by rocketing a one-timer past Boston’s backup at 14:15 in the second.
But the Bruins did get some life just 38 seconds later, with Casey Mittelstadt finally beating Fowler off a slick feed from Elias Lindholm to make it a 5-1 game.
Mittelstadt later potted a rebound off a Lindholm shot just 53 seconds into the third — sparking hope that Boston could continue cutting into that sizable deficit with 19 minutes still on the clock.
Such a result didn’t play out for Boston, although it’s encouraging that Boston’s third line has continued to produce — even with rookie James Hagens still on the mend.
Mittelstadt — a pending free agent — is currently on pace for 31 goals and 53 points this season.
“I think that we did some good things maybe later in the game in the second and the third, like you said. But at the same time, it’s a big match for us and a big rivalry,” Mittelstadt said. “So we’d like to be ready to go and have a better night.”
Bruins don’t get much from big guns
There was plenty of blame to go around on Thursday night.
But Boston’s top weapons up front looked like spud guns for most of the night against Montreal.
Boston’s first line of Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha, and JJ Peterka did hold a 26-12 edge in shot attempts in their 13:25 of 5-on-5 ice time, but were outscored, 2-0, over that stretch — while a second line of Morgan Geekie, Fraser Minten, and Mikey Eyssimont only generated two scoring chances in 9:30 of 5-on-5 reps.
The Bruins only had one power-play opportunity on Thursday, but it was an abject disaster — with Boston only landing one shot on goal against Fowler and spending most of that 5-on-4 stretch fishing the puck back out from its defensive zone.
The man advantage has left a lot to be desired this season, with Boston currently in a 2-for-24 slump over its last seven games. In total, Boston is 27th in the league in power-play percentage at just 18.0.
Bruins embrace college atmosphere
The Bruins paid homage to the storied tradition of college hockey in Boston with their new “Varsity Sweaters” — which featured several stylistic designs that were made to mimic collegiate jerseys.
Boston’s new jersey is the first all-brown uniform since its inaugural season in 1924, with other details including an arched wordmark chest numeral, rugger-inspired double sleeve stripes, beveled numerals on the back and a collegiate-style shoulder crest.
Throughout the night, Northeastern’s band played several hits that filled the bowl at TD Garden — be it “Back In Black” when the Bruins took to the ice or a Northeastern hockey staple — “Stacy’s Mom” — during the third period.
It was a rough night for the personnel out on the ice on Thursday, but at least the Huskies band showed up to play.
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