Boston drops yet another lifeless game. So it goes.
No funny “ha ha”s for us. Only suffering.
1st Period
No real scoring happened in this period, which is largely due to the work of Jeremy Swayman. Onto the next period.
2nd Period
The Habs got on the board first early on in the period after a Christian Dvorak missile that was the third chance in about ten seconds that the Bruins couldn’t pick up in the confusion of defending their goaltender. 1-0 Habs.
The rest of the period would effectively be Jeremy Swayman under siege, as he made save after save after save with little help from his skaters, including one of the most ridiculous saves I’ve seen in a hot minute.
Heck of a save from Jeremy Swayman
Then, Cole Koepke fought Kaiden Guhle.
Unfortunately, the Bruins could not even things up, and off of a Geekie mishandling of the puck, the Habs sprung off in a two on one to set up Cole Caufield for his 35th of the year. 2-0 Habs.
Not exactly a winning formula.
On to the final period.
3rd Period
The Habs continued their unabated deathmarch with another goal; this time from an enormously unlucky bounce putting Brendan Gallagher in a perfect position to hammer the puck home. 3-0 Habs.
Then, it was time for the pre-requisite David Pastrnak/Morgan Geekie points, and the recipient of their hard work this time was Elias Lindholm, who now has his 14th goal of the season. 3-1 Habs.
Man, it is crazy that Pasta and Geekie seem to be the only guys who seem to be able to go hard to the net with any frequency.
Anyway, do the Habs have an answer for this?
Yeah, that’s what I figured.
Bruins lose 4-1.
Game Notes
- Your TOI Leader was Nikita Zadorov, who played 21:27 tonight.
- The Bruins in this exciting time of being godawful find new and exciting ways to break your heart entirely. After a pretty solid 1st period where they showed plenty of effort, it was like the 2nd period was an extended release of air from a balloon. Just another blunt reminder that contending is now a very distant memory of an idea, and the Bruins seem perfectly willing to smash their own worst losing streak if it means a quality player falling into their laps.
- It’s getting pretty painfully obvious the only way Boston is ever going to win a game right now is if David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie both trade hat tricks with one another, because the rest of this squad just is not helping. The honeymoon period is over, and while I like individual aspects of certain players, it’s clear they need an actual top six to keep them honest with themselves. They got out-chanced by the Habs, man. There is just no juice for this team right now. Even when they fight they can’t generate it.
- Don’t believe the save-% at this end of this point; Jeremy Swayman did what he could to keep the Bruins in this game, and made one of the wildest saves I have gone and ever seen in a good long while. This would’ve been an otherwise perfectly noteworthy performance had he had any help whatsoever in front of him. His .903 SV% was well-earned in a game that the Bruins didn’t feel like participating much on defense.
- Elias Lindholm didn’t mince words whatsoever about how he felt these games have gone; stating to the media that the Bruins “always find a way to beat ourselves” over this stretch, which I feel like is a fair criticism. He seems to get it at least; I don’t know if he’s going to avoid the slings and arrows of fans, but he’s definitely aware that things have gone pear-shaped and that a lot of it can be self-inflicted.
- At this point, if the Bruins are gonna fight, pretty much the whole team is gonna have to pick a partner and start swinging. They don’t need momentary injections of adrenaline, they need an IV to even start to make it worth it. You’re just embarrassing yourselves at this point.
- The Bruins only need to lose two more games to tie their very worst stretch of games ever, and given how they’re playing lately I really think they could do it. The lack of anything at either end of the ice is just mesmerizing.
- If everything held and the Draft Lottery changed nothing, the Bruins are projected to make the 4th overall pick in the NHL draft. Here’s who Elite Prospects believes would be a good pick at 4th overall: Brampton’s Porter Martone from the OHL.
The Bruins take a day off, and then return to TD Garden to play the Carolina Hurricanes at 7pm EST.
We’ll see you there.
360 minutes left, everybody. You can do this.