The B’s power play allowed two shorthanded goals in the loss.
The Boston Bruins’ shortcomings peaked as they were handed a 5-1 loss by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night at the TD Garden after another night of searching for consistent play which didn’t come.
The Bruins’ power play gave up two shorthanded goals as special teams continue to be a pitfall for the team.
“Mistakes are going to happen in the game,” Brad Marchand said postgame. “We’re just kind of compounding them…It’s not acceptable to continue to have the same mistakes.”
In the 20th game of the season, the Bruins’ struggles continued to pile up as they pick up their third consecutive loss.
A bad turnover led to the Blue Jackets’ first goal. Add shorthanded and late-period tallies and the Bruins were down 3-0 after the first period.
Charlie Coyle gave the Bruins a little life with a power-play goal in the second period, but the man-advantage couldn’t capitalized on their next chances. Rather another turnover by Mason Lohrei aided Columbus in their second shorthanded goal of the night.
Yegor Chinakhov cushioned the Blue Jackets’ lead for the final score to be 5-1 Columbus.
Here are (Columbus’) highlights for the game:
First period:
Sean Monahan sent Dmitri Voronkov up ice where he beat both Bruins defensemen and put a backhander past Jeremy Swayman as Brandon Carlo crashed into him at 5:17 of the first period. 1-0 Blue Jackets.
Olivier cut across the slot to fire a backhander through Swayman’s five-hole for a shorthanded goal at 10:39 of the first period. 2-0 Blue Jackets.
Zach Werenski’s pass hit James van Riemsdyk turning in the slot and got redirected into the net at 19:28 of the first period. 3-0 Blue Jackets.
Second period:
From behind the net, Justin Brazeau found Charlie Coyle out front where he released a quick wrist shot past Elvis Merzlikins’ glove at 14:30 of the second period. 3-1 game.
Third period:
After a turnover by Mason Lohrei at the point, Cole Sillinger headed up ice with Justin Danforth as Lohrei tried to backcheck. Sillinger slid a pass over to Danforth who tapped in a shot past Jeremy Swayman. 4-1 Blue Jackets.
Sean Monahan found Yegor Chinakhov in the slot for a quick wrist shot past Swayman’s glove at 14:10 of the third period. Final score: 5-1 Blue Jackets.
Game notes
- There was no shortage of the lingering problems which have become characteristic of the Bruins’ play in the first quarter of the season. Turnovers, guys becoming nonexistent in the lineup, a laissez faire complacency and lack of discipline in puck management.
- But one of the biggest frustrations of the night was the power play. The Bruins were shooting, just not on the power play. There was no sense of urgency to get shots off and it just killed them tonight. Brad Marchand said they know this is an area of their game which as cost them and they are paying for it. He added it should be a privilege to the guys who are on the ice for a power play, and everyone is better than how they are playing.
- Lohrei had probably one of his worst games of the season. Things were magnified on his turnover which led to Columbus’ fourth goal. Lohrei was also on the ice for four of the Blue Jacket’s five goals.
- The Bruins’ first period wasn’t bad. They actually had more scoring chances it seemed than the Blue Jackets despite finding themselves in a 3-0 hole after 20 minutes.
- But again, the Bruins gave up the first goal of the game. This has plagued the team so far.
- This was also the fifth time Swayman has given up four or more goals in a loss this season. Overall, he has given up four or more goals in six of his 14 starts. Swayman postgame acknowledged he needs to be better and play to the Bruins’ standard. He said he thinks there are habits he could improve.
- Swayman was asked if he felt missing training camp had anything to do with trying to play catch up. He responded: “I think I’ve had enough time now to adapt and get back to things. I think the biggest thing that I lost out on was this group and I’m really trying to engulf just being in the room again and be a leader.”
- Marchand talked accountability postgame. He said there’s frustration in not piecing together a 60-minute effort from the team and it starts with a compete level that’s either not there or they haven’t been able to replicate from one game to the next.
- Marchand said: “You have to have the highest compete every night if you want to be good team. We have it through periods of the game. We have it at times when we do it really good. But then you get these other moments of the game where we think we’re a skilled team and we’re in more places all over the ice and that’s not us. We have to understand what our identity is play to that.”
- The Bruins are home again on Thursday, Nov. 21, to face the Utah Hockey Club at 7 p.m.