By: Declan Flavin | Follow me on Twitter / X @FlavinDeclan
The tally is now at 20–18–1 for the 2025–26 Boston Bruins, and the last week could not have felt worse for the organization or its fans. There weren’t just four losses; there were failures built on mistakes reminiscent of last season’s disappointment.
When a lack of discipline creeps in with this group, it has been tough to reverse course quickly, as evidenced by a league-high 528 penalty minutes. Being undisciplined in areas like stick placement has recently gone hand in hand with being undisciplined in roles within the team structure, so head coach Marco Sturm will have to hash out some significant obstacles to keep the team moving forward.
Seven Notes:
1. Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo hasn’t provided his usual value this season, and it’s preventing the team from building any momentum. As mentioned in previous notes, it’s still fair to wonder whether Korpisalo entered the season frustrated and allowed that to compound and affect his on-ice preparation and execution. His play has forced the team to overplay goaltender Jeremy Swayman, and that hasn’t exactly worked either…
2. Swayman needs an able partner after being accustomed to the safety net that goaltender Linus Ullmark once provided. There was questioning about this back when the Ullmark trade first happened, but it’s worth revisiting as you take a bigger step back at what a Swayman-led tandem has looked like. This says nothing less about Swayman, who showed the whole league what he was capable of in the 2024 playoffs with apt support.
3. Bruin forwards cannot afford to cheat the game. When the forward group came into the season, they surely knew they would have to play more to an identity than to a game-specific attack strategy. Off the legs of early success, you have gradually seen players leaning toward the offensive side in everything they do, as shown in a recent article.
4. Bruin defenders still have a tough time dealing with the front of the net, and doing it without screening their own goalie. As shown on the first goal given up in Buffalo, defenseman Andrew Peeke finds himself directly in front of Korpisalo’s line of sight while trying to make the right play. It hasn’t been a huge issue the whole season, but as the team loses more games back-to-back, you start to notice the screening issue more in combination with the sporadic inconsistency in boxing out.
5. The team needs defenseman Charlie McAvoy to rise above the team’s issues. With it being clear that the team can still fall into sporadic lapses in their structure, the organization needs to be reminded why they pay a defender like McAvoy the big bucks. He’s an exceptional talent in the National Hockey League, but as the team fades, so does McAvoy, and that isn’t indicative of what most consider a top-five defender in the league.
6. When the group is off, they’re off. These 4-1 or 6-2 games aren’t just met with typical issues; they put on film a general sense of players going through the motions. Of course the players are trying, but for whatever reason, the way they try to execute looks stressful. The roster forces players to get out of their element and play a certain physical style every shift, so perhaps naturally, the toll can impose itself.
7. At the end of the day, it’s about execution. These past games still show, at points, a lack of execution in the final act of the players’ processing through the game, which can be encouraging. One more save here or a blocked shot there, and you could see this Bruins team turn a poor week into better results.
Leave a Reply