By: Jason Cooke | Follow me on X @cookejournalism
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. This time, the errors just hit the Bruins in different spots. They didn’t allow eight goals or fail to record a shot on goal in the third period. Instead, they sacrificed two shorthanded goals amid a discombobulated power play (1-for-6) that struggled to generate anything all night. Monday night’s 5-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets was another low point to Boston’s shocking start to 2024-25.
The Bruins are back below .500, standing at 8-9-3 following another uninspiring 60 minutes on home ice that accounted for just one goal, a Charlie Coyle power play tally. It was all the spiraling Bruins could muster against a bland Columbus team at TD Garden. Whether a major shakeup is coming is to be seen, but head coach Jim Montgomery and the B’s are keeping the focus inside the locker room.
“We never talk about the outside noise,” said the coach. “We talk about solution-based, how do we fix and get more consistent competitively in all three zones and special teams.”
Montgomery alluded to a 1-7-1 start when he was at the helm of the Dallas Stars before his group went 17-4-4 after the rough start. But to flip that switch, the Bruins need to build on something—anything—to gain momentum. So far, that hasn’t happened.
“There’s been a couple of wins where I thought we were turning the page,” said Montgomery. That hasn’t transpired. What you want in the first 20 games is you don’t want to be out of the playoff race. We aren’t out of the playoff race.”
The first period was abysmal on Causeway Street for the Bruins faithful. In 20 minutes, Boston succumbed to allowing an own goal as well as its first shorthanded score amid a period of playing from behind. Despite recent call-up Jeffrey Viel stepping into the ring against Mathieu Oliver on his very first shift, the Bruins weren’t able to gain any momentum on it.
The Blue Jackets did, as Dmitri Voronkov split two Boston defenders in Brandon Carlo and Mason Lohrei before diving into Jeremy Swayman. It appeared as though the puck was directed off Carlo and tipped into the net. Then, Oliver capitalized on his own fisticuffs. His hard net drive beat a slew of Bruins’ defenders to the net, resulting in an easy deke to beat Swayman through the legs. It was 2-0 Columbus before the Bruins had a chance to blink.
To make matters worse, the Blue Jackets added to their cushion thanks to ex-Bruin James van Riemsdyk with 32 seconds left in the period. The Bruins, who did manage to string together some high-danger scoring opportunities in the frame, trudged to the dressing room amid defeating boos from the Garden faithful.
“We need to be much better in a lot of areas,” said Brad Marchand. “Mistakes are going to happen in a game, and we’re just kind of compounding them and it’s not acceptable to continue to have the same mistakes and do the same thing over and over.”
The second period was better for the hosts, outshooting Columbus by a 10-4 margin while cutting the deficit to a pair of goals. It was really the one time the Bruins’ power play looked somewhat formidable on Monday, cashing in on a great pass from Justin Brazeau below the goal line to a crashing Coyle.
But it was back to ugly hockey in the third. Justin Danforth’s shorthanded goal was followed by one last dagger by Yegor Chinakhov, leaving the Bruins depleted when the final buzzer sounded on Causeway. For Coyle, aiding the Bruins’ woes all starts on the practice sheet.
“You got to start building, it’s all you can do,” said Coyle. When you lose you want to bounce back and do the right things. That starts in practice. Whenever our next skate is, we focus and get our details and our habits and get that going the right way again. It gives us a good chance to do it in games. It doesn’t always translate, you got to bring that focus every time no matter what you’re doing, but that’s first and foremost. You play how you practice. That’s how I was taught.”
For Jeremy Swayman, who made 24 saves while allowing five goals, one of his tactics for finding his game is similar. A struggling Swayman (3.47 goals against average, .884 save percentage) has been far from perfect since joining the Bruins after training camp. In fact, Joonas Korpisalo has outperformed him.
“I think I’ve had enough time now to adapt and get back to things,” Swayman said of missing training camp. “I think the biggest thing that I lost out on was this group. I’m really trying to engulf just being in the room again and being a leader. I want my play to speak for that.”
Quick Hits…
- David Pastrnak didn’t record a shot on goal on Monday. Bruins forward has posted 17 points in 20 games.
- Recent call-up Jeffrey Viel landed a fighting major as well as a boarding penalty in his season debut with the team.
- Georgii Merkulov received some time on Boston’s second power play unit. We’ll see how long the blue-chip prospect will remain with the big club.
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