Senators @ Bruins, 04/14/22

Someone please change the record, because Boston loses another game, and another player, yet again.  Goaltender Linus Ullmark only played the opening twenty-minutes, possibly being taken out due to concussion protocol, though his status is still unknown.  Not in the line-up for Boston were injured players David Pastrnak, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, and as a healthy scratch, Trent Frederic.  Frederic’s bump from play was a direct result of his momentum throwing run in with St. Louis Blues player Vladmir Tarasenko during Tuesday night’s game.  His sentence to the top deck served not only as a call out for his own performance, but as a message to the rest of the Bruins roster: Shape up, now.  

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Marc McLaughlin opened the scoring 6:36 into the first period at the end of a strong shift from the fourth line, as Foligno made a pass towards the top of the crease where McLaughlin was able to deflect the puck past Senators’ goaltender Anton Forsberg.  In the final minute of the first period, Matt Grzcelyck’s shot was tipped by Jesper Froden for his first career NHL goal and Boston’s second of the period. 

The second period began with Jeremy Swayman replacing Linus Ullmark. Presumably because of a play in the first period where Ullmark took a slapshot square in the mask. Ullmark had momentarily been hunched over the side of the Boston bench speaking with Bruins’ personnel.  Less than a minute into the period captain Brady Tkachuk banked a shot off Swayman from behind the net to give Ottawa their first goal of the game.  

Halfway through the second period, a high sticking penalty against Mike Reilly immediately followed by a phantom hooking call against Patrice Bergeron put Boston on a 5-on-3 penalty kill.  Forty-four seconds into Ottawa's power play, Josh Norris scored the game tying goal for Ottawa; and only fifty-seven seconds later, still on the power play, Tim Stutzle’s shot found twine and gave Ottawa their first lead of the game.  By the end of the second period, Boston had extended their scoreless streak on the power play to twenty-one straight.  

On the brighter side, Jeremy Swayman certainly seems to be finding his form again.  Swayman repeatedly bailed out Boston, shutting down multiple breakaways and a few shots that appeared to be sure goals for Ottawa.  Unfortunately, much like with Ullmark’s five star performances as of late, the Bruins in front of him were unable to take the game back, as the Bruins fell to Ottawa 3-2.  Boston has now lost three in a row for the first time this season.  

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The Bruins have gone twenty-three consecutive power plays without a goal.  Twenty-three.  They lost to the Ottawa Senators, a team eliminated from playoff contention and thirty-five points behind Boston in the standings.  They saw their red hot goaltender in Linus Ullmark leave the game for reasons not entirely disclosed at this time.  Things are bleak in Boston right now, and with six of their eight remaining games being against playoff teams, it’s difficult to see how brighter days could lie ahead.  Even bringing back superstar David Pastrnak, one of the league’s better defenseman in Hampus Lindholm, and Bruins’ stalwart blue liner Brandon Carlo seemingly wouldn’t be enough to snap this team back into place and shape.  Boston needs to utilize these last eight games to return to form if they want to stand a chance against any of their potential first round matchups.  It’s been repeated ad nauseum how incredibly stacked the Atlantic Division, and even just the Eastern Conference in general is this year.  And having to fight their way out of the first two rounds was already going to be a monumental task for Boston; but now, as the Bruins are digging their claws into the side of the mountain they’re sliding down, that task is beginning to seem insurmountable.  If your team can get knocked around and outplayed by the OTTAWA SENATORS at this point in the season, then forget about facing teams as outright lethal as Florida, Carolina, or the surging New York Rangers.  

But.  Hockey is a weird, random, and in some ways ironic sport in the sense that you can almost expect Boston to go on a tear to end the season, fueled purely out of spite and frustration.   Boston’s recent play may look like blood in the water for other playoff teams, but eight games is a lot of hockey, and (pardon the expression) cornering a bear is not sage advice.  It would only take Brad Marchand taking over a game with his puck possession and edge work, or Charlie McAvoy to lay a few big hits in the opening period, or someone to beat the breaks off an opponent after a questionable hit, for this team to take back some momentum and therefore something to build on.  Where winning a period becomes winning a game, and winning a game becomes winning multiple.  There’s a lot of squeaky wheels right now for this Bruins hockey team, but all are within their power to fix before Round 1.  

Boston will host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon.  The Penguins have been lukewarm lately, even more so with the suspension of Evgeni Malkin, but they remain a dangerous team nonetheless.  Bruins/Penguins games never disappoint, and Boston has a lot to prove right now.  Expect a hard-hitting, high-speed, high-scoring tilt.