By: Jason Cooke | Follow me on X @cookejournalism
The Boston Bruins could have simply folded and mailed in the rest of their five-game road trip out West. In fact, it looked like they were going to. An 8-1 beatdown at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets and another uninspiring 5-1 fall to the Seattle Kraken had the Bruins leaking oil not even halfway into their trip.
But as the B’s have done under interim head coach Joe Sacco, they haven’t backed down when things have gotten uncomfortable. That’s not to discount the pair of abysmal losses they displayed in their last two games, but being able to fight back, especially in the third period, has been a noticeable step in the right direction for Boston.
According to 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Ty Anderson on X, Tuesday night’s comeback triumph over the Calgary Flames was the second win under Sacco when trailing by two periods since he took over behind the bench. The Bruins battled back just once in their previous 22 games in that situation under Jim Montgomery in what has been a noticeable difference since Montgomery’s firing. Whether that change is something Sacco is doing or if it’s simply an increased sense of urgency in the locker room after their successful coach was fired is unknown, but it’s certainly significant nonetheless.
Boston edged the Philadelphia Flyers—yes, in another comeback victory—before flying to Winnipeg to play the Jets last Tuesday with hopes of building on that momentum. That obviously didn’t happen, and it didn’t get much better in the ensuing matchup in Seattle.
On Saturday in Vancouver, the Bruins’ road trip would have gone one of two ways. It could have continued plummeting toward disaster, or the B’s could have revealed a second gear to attempt to turn it around. Boston went with the latter, which leaked into Tuesday night’s win against the Flames.
In an equally as promising development for the Bruins, their top scorers have appeared out of the woodwork to right the ship out West. On Saturday, it was David Pastrnak who went into full-fledged takeover mode with a goal and three helpers. Pavel Zacha had a three-point game, and Morgan Geekie continued to break out of his shell with a goal and an assist. Brad Marchand also stayed hot with a goal.
It was more of the same on Tuesday as the B’s erased a 3-1 deficit to earn the extra point in overtime with a 4-3 win. It was Pastrnak who rung a laser off the post to win it as Geekie added another goal (six points in his last six games). Elias Lindholm also broke out for the Bruins, netting a goal and an assist. He landed seven shots on goal and has now recorded consecutive multi-point games for the first time in a Bruins sweater.
Boston faces one more test on Thursday night against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers before heading back home to Causeway Street to take on the lifeless Buffalo Sabres. Regardless of how they fare against the Oilers, the Bruins made a statement in their recent two-game swing on this challenging road trip; one that doesn’t pull them out of the woods just yet, but also one that reinforces that the 2024-25 Bruins are still very much a playoff-caliber team who won’t back down when they meet adversity.
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