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Bruins fall to Maple Leafs for third straight loss |
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Ty Anderson
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Well, it’s official: Joe Sacco’s Bruins are slumping.
In Toronto looking to avoid going winless on a three-game road trip that started with losses to the Capitals and Rangers, the Bruins broke out of their cold spell from an offensive standpoint Saturday night in Toronto. But the main problem came with an inability to stop the bleeding at the other end, with four goals allowed by Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman (and with some downright dreadful defense in front of him along the way) and another two empty-net tallies in a 6-4 defeat to the Maple Leafs.
Maple Leafs winger Matthew Knies led the way for Toronto by way of his first NHL hat trick.
To make matters worse for the Bruins, this was as alluded to, a game where the Bruins corrected their biggest issue of the the road trip, as they hung four goals on the Maple Leafs’ Joseph Woll. And they were definite response goals off Boston sticks, with a Morgan Geekie goal just 12 seconds after Toronto made it 2-0, a David Pastrnak tally to tie things back up a mere 34 seconds after the Maple Leafs took a 3-2 lead, and another Pastrnak marker just 15 seconds after Toronto’s first empty-net goal.
But for all the grinding the Bruins did for their goals, the defensive game was lacking in this one. From the moment the puck dropped and the Leafs’ offensive push kicked off with a Jake McCabe goal, it was entirely too easy for the Maple Leafs to get to prime real estate in the Black and Gold’s zone. And when they did, Swayman (four goals on 27 shots) did not come up with the big-time stops his team needed.
And when the Bruins score four goals, especially in the middle of a stretch that’s seen that part of their game struggle, that’s a game that simply has to come with a point (at the very least) for the Bruins.
If you’re looking for positives in this one, it’s that Trent Frederic built off what was a strong first-period effort and got on the board in the second frame with his first goal since Dec. 7.
The B’s also scored their first 6-on-5 goal of the season thanks to Pastrnak’s second tally of the evening. The Bruins entered Saturday’s game as one of just three teams in the NHL to not score a goal with their goalie pulled this season, joining Utah and Montreal on that front.
But big picture-wise, the return to play from the Christmas break has not gone the way that the B’s had hoped, with losses in four of five since returning to action in Columbus on Dec. 27.
The good news for the Bruins is that they won’t have to wait long for a potential bounce-back effort, with a Sunday showdown with the Islanders on deck for Sacco’s club.
Everything else
- Toronto's top line ate the B's breakfast, lunch, and dinner tonight. Making his first appearance since Dec. 20, the Leafs got an obvious boost from Auston Matthews beyond just the obvious emotional element, and Matthews dominated the puck whenever he was out there. I don't need to tell you how good Matthews is, but this is a player who continues to add more to his repertoire every season, and I thought he was especially noticeable with his physicality tonight. Matthews absolutely hammered Bruins captain Brad Marchand early in this game, and straight-up bullied Charlie McAvoy for a 50-50 puck en route to Knies' third goal of the night. Three points and a plus-5 rating for him in this game. Monster.
- I think that's enough of the Oliver Wahlstrom experiment. It was worth a try, but Wahlstrom hasn't shown much of anything to warrant a further look, especially when you have at least two guys in the AHL knocking at the door in Matt Poitras and Georgii Merkulov. If this is a merit-based operation, there's simply no argument to be made that'll convince anybody that Wahlstrom is or has done more than those guys.
- A bit of a rarity under Sacco: I don't think there's a single defenseman who had a night you would consider good. Perhaps not even acceptable. That part of the B's game has been better under Sacco, so let's see how that's corrected. But this highlights a greater point, and that's that the Bruins desperately miss Hampus Lindholm right now.
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