Bruins
Boston chased Saturday’s sport your entire 60 minutes, and gave up too many possibilities within the loss.
Following a 6-4 loss to Toronto during which the Bruins by no means held a lead and gave up far too many possibilities, Boston has now misplaced three straight video games and 4 of its final 5. And whereas Saturday noticed an enchancment within the scoring division, the Bruins had their backs in opposition to the wall for too lengthy to be deserving of a win on the street.
After falling behind 2-0 early within the second interval, Boston confirmed some life, getting one objective again simply 12 seconds later courtesy of Morgan Geekie. Earlier than the second interval ended, Trent Frederic discovered the tying objective, and breathed new life into the Bruins.
That second was short-lived. Boston gave up a objective to Matthew Knies — who completed Saturday’s sport with a hat trick and 5 factors — early within the third interval.
This time David Pastrnak was in a position to acquire the equalizer, developing with a steal in Toronto’s personal zone and ripping a shot previous Joseph Woll on a fairly play.
That was the final time Boston was ever actually near profitable on Saturday. Toronto grabbed the lead once more in a while, tacked on an empty-netter after which after another objective from Pastrnak, the Maple Leafs scored a second empty web objective to seal the deal for good.
“We weren’t exhausting sufficient in sure areas of the sport tonight,” interim coach Joe Sacco mentioned after the sport. “It’s powerful to play catch up hockey. Nevertheless it’s 2-2 going into the third. We now have two errors … two breakdowns that they capitalize on.”
Listed below are three takeaways from the loss:
The Bruins want extra out of Jeremy Swayman.
Jeremy Swayman definitely had his work lower out for him on Saturday, and the Bruins didn’t do the very best job defending the online round him. Nevertheless, Boston ought to be capable of depend on their All-Star netminder for just a few bailouts on defensive miscues. And Swayman didn’t reply that bell in opposition to the Maple Leafs.
Swayman’s last stat line: 4 targets allowed on 27 pictures, 23 saves. Good for a subpar .867 save proportion. Swayman entered Saturday with an .893 save proportion, which is thirty eighth within the league, behind even his personal backup Joonas Korpisalo, and fifth worst within the NHL amongst goalies with 20 or extra begins.
After all, part of that’s residual impact of Boston’s early season struggles. And Swayman himself acquired off to a slower begin after his contract dispute precipitated him to overlook Bruins’ coaching camp. Nonetheless, for a goaltender now making over $8 million per 12 months, Swayman hasn’t fairly been the stud in web that Boston hoped to see proceed over from final 12 months’s breakout season.
Having a scorching goaltender is vital for many groups heading into the playoffs, and Swayman might want to reignite his sport if Boston hopes to get again into the postseason — and be aggressive in it.
David Pastrnak might need discovered his groove.
The Bruins celebrity goal-scorer hasn’t been his typical self for a lot of this season, however David Pastrnak could have discovered his groove once more regardless of the loss Saturday.
Pastrnak’s general level whole by way of 40 video games is nowhere close to the place it has been the final two seasons, and he’s on tempo for his lowest objective output since his second 12 months within the NHL. For a Boston group struggling to place factors on the board this 12 months, they want their high scorer to reclaim his throne.
Towards Toronto, Pastrnak recorded his first multi-goal sport of the 12 months. After all, one sport is a particularly small pattern dimension, however Saturday offered a style of the model of Pastrnak Boston has grown accustomed to. Scoring targets typically and at a excessive stage.
If there’s something that may be taken from the powerful street loss, it’s that Pastrnak can nonetheless change the momentum of any sport with the puck on his stick. The general consequence wasn’t there on Saturday, however the formulation nonetheless works.
Now, Pastrnak is at 40 factors in 41 video games. It’s nonetheless a far cry from his back-to-back seasons with 110 and 113 factors, however a degree per sport is greater than serviceable and can solely proceed to rise if Pastrnak returns to his score-first methods.
Morgan Geekie isn’t lacking a beat within the high six.
Morgan Geekie is catapulting himself up the Bruins’ line chart, and proving he has each proper to remain there.
A bottom-six mainstay final season, Geekie is getting time on Boston’s second line this 12 months. He lined up on the wing alongside Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha on Saturday and appeared very snug with that group.
The play that finally led to Geekie’s objective proved precisely why the 26-year-old deserves to remain within the rotation of the highest six forwards. First, Geekie utilized strain behind Toronto’s web and delivered a success that helped Boston regain possession of the puck. He then flashed in entrance of Woll, screening the goalie sufficient to create chaos in entrance.
Then, the icing on the cake, Geekie discovered a candy spot on the again submit and positioned himself completely for a tap-in objective when the puck slid throughout the crease. Not unhealthy for 5 seconds of hockey.
Geekie is as much as 17 factors on the 12 months (9 targets, 8 assists). He’s at present simply shy of his point-per-game tempo from final season even whereas the Bruins are scoring fewer targets and dropping extra video games than the earlier 12 months, and whereas he’s seeing time in opposition to extra high-end opposing skaters than he was beforehand.
Boston could have a fast turnaround and look to snap its three sport skid in opposition to the New York Islanders on Sunday night.
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