( Photo Credit: Charles Krupa / AP Photo )

By: Declan Flavin | Follow me on Twitter / X @FlavinDeclan

The Boston Bruins came into last night’s game against former head coaches Jim Montgomery and Claude Julien needing better energy and execution early. The last two games against the Detroit Red Wings simply weren’t enough from that standpoint, and for a team that has to hang its hat on gradual alignment with the modern National Hockey League forecheck, that can’t happen.

Well, they responded in this one against the St. Louis Blues, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead and holding down the fort while tacking on a few putaway goals. Forward Alex Steeves continues to impress, forward Pavel Zacha has a multi-goal night, and forward Morgan Geekie keeps scoring, but there were two similar errors, in the form of goals given up, that are worth looking at…

Forward Pavel Buchnevich Scores at 18:01 of the Second Period

As you can see from the hyperlinked sequence leading to the first goal, there was a noticeably slow pace in the Bruins’ defending and breaking the puck out. This led to forward Tanner Jeannot, who’s pictured here, having his back toward the oncoming Blues forward with not a ton of momentum at all.

The slower execution could have worked out in this case had Jeannot approached the puck with a bit more urgency to get it out before the looming attacker came in, but ultimately he was too late when he took a peek behind himself. Regardless, the entire unit defending this Blues’ forecheck rush needed to operate at a quicker tempo.

Forward Pius Suter Scores at 10:53 of the Third Period

This second and final goal from the opposition is a bit of an odd one, because you would think from the start of the sequence that defenseman Nikita Zadorov would be partially to blame for the turnover. However, it looks like his skates or stick were tripped up by the boards somehow, leaving him in a tough spot with no clear outlet options, so the tougher look comes from having three players in front of the net as the goal is scored, as illustrated.

Defenseman Jonathan Aspirot, forward Elias Lindholm, and forward Marat Khusnutdinov are without any opposing bodies leaning on them, allowing forward Dylan Holloway to toss a pass right through the crease. It’s the third period of a big lead, so this kind of stuff happens with any NHL team, but again, the urgency to handle seemingly small situations needs to be there at all times when the five-man unit is defending.