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4 thoughts as Bruins begin new week |
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Ty Anderson
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Well, the Bruins finally ended their longest losing streak in almost 10 years Saturday afternoon in Sunrise. But it was a game that required what can only be described as pure survival from Jeremy Swayman & Co., as the Bruins were hammered for over 100 shot attempts by the Panthers.
Am I crazy or is that a lot of shot attempts? (That’s a lot of shot attempts!)
In fact, going back to NaturalStatTrick.com tracking shot attempts beginning in 2007, it was the first time that the Bruins had surrendered at least 100 shot attempts in a regular season game. Expand it to the postseason and it was just the third such instance of that happening to the Bruins. The others? A double-overtime game against the Penguins and a triple-overtime game against the Blackhawks during the Black and Gold’s 2013 postseason run.
But it was on the back of Swayman that the Bruins won this game.
And not a moment too soon.
This has not been the season that the Bruins envisioned for themselves when they built this team last summer. By now it’s clear that the Bruins don’t have enough scoring and that their defense has been a little too inconsistent for it to emerge as the true backbone of this club. But the quickest way for the Bruins to turn things around is for Swayman to re-emerge as the goaltender he was for the club during the 2024 postseason. And I will say that even with the B’s possessing just two wins since returning from the break, Swayman has looked closer to being that guy. Even beyond last Saturday’s 40-save victory over the Panthers.
Going back to Swayman’s nightmarish outing in Winnipeg, Swayman has boosted his season save percentage from an .885 to an .895. I know, I know. $8.25 million should get you a lot better than that, but keep in mind that the .010 surge over the last month has come with Swayman having a 20-of-23 and 23-of-27 performance along the way. Go back to just this past week, and only three goaltenders made at least three appearances and had a better save percentage than Swayman (.919) in a week that came with showdowns against the Oilers, Lightning, and Panthers.
If Swayman can get his game going here, the Bruins won’t have to worry about their scoring concerns and at-times porous defensive structure the way they have through the first half of the 2024-25 campaign.
Here are some other quick Bruins thoughts as the week begins...
Wahlstrom gets on the board
It took almost 110 minutes, but Oliver Wahlstrom is finally on the board with some production for the Bruins, with No. 71 scoring the B’s third goal of the day in last Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Panthers.
On one hand, it’s good for Wahlstrom to finally break through, and it’s nice to see him string some positive momentum (I thought he was decent in Thursday’s loss to Tampa) into tangible production. At the same time, however, here’s to hoping that a single goal does not buy him another 100 minutes of non-productive hockey. I know it sounds harsh, and I honestly swear that I don’t have it out for Wahlstrom, but the rope he’s been given to get his game going here is a maddening when you realize that none of the Bruins’ younger talents in Providence (Georgii Merkulov, Matty Poitras, and Fabian Lysell) have been given the same rope this season.
We all know this team is a flawed one, and one unlikely to go on a sudden run as currently constituted, and if that trend continues, this season should be about seeing if you can fast track the development of a Merkulov, Poitras, or Lysell. None of these guys are ‘The Answer’ and I’m not foolish enough to try to tell you otherwise, but this Bruins team continues to devote significant minutes to guys that almost certainly do not factor into their long-term plans the way that their pro prospects should.
I said this on the radio last weekend, but the Bruins could get away with serious devotion to these kinds of reclamation projects and hopes when they had Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Zdeno Chara. But right now, this team should be integrating some of their younger players into the mix. This year’s team has already tried to squeeze something out of the likes of Wahlstrom, Tyler Johnson, Riley Tufte, and Max Jones to limited success. And if your fans realize this is a flawed team, they want to see some of the future. At least then they’ll know one way or another.
It’s just how it goes.
Lettieri up, McLaughlin down
Monday did come with a roster move for the Bruins — though it did not include any of the aforementioned Merkulov, Poitras, or Lysell — as the Bruins summoned Vinni Lettieri up from the AHL.
Lettieri comes up to Boston as a point-per-game player for the P-Bruins this season, and with 20 points in his last 16 outings for Providence, including a two-goal, three-point effort against Bridgeport this past weekend.
The 29-year-old Lettieri, who played in the B’s organization in 2022-23 and was reacquired by the club in the trade that sent Jakub Lauko to the Wild during the 2024 NHL Draft, is also an experienced option, with over 120 games of NHL experience between New York, Anaheim, Boston, and Minny.
With Lettieri up, the Bruins’ corresponding move came on Sunday with Marc McLaughlin placed on waivers and ultimately reassigned to Providence on Monday after he went unclaimed. McLaughlin, a native of North Billerica, Mass., posted two goals and 23 hits in 12 games with Boston this season.
Revenge against Bolts?
Something to watch going into Tuesday’s Bruins-Lightning game in Boston is just how determined the Bruins are to get back at the Bolts for what they perceived as a dirty crosscheck on Mark Kastelic by Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg in the waning seconds of last week’s loss at Amalie Arena.
Feels safe to assume that Nikita Zadorov or Trent Frederic will come calling.
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