Boston Bruins: Reasons why 3rd straight loss is no cause for alarm

The Boston Bruins may now have lost three straight games, but there isn’t yet any reason to be too alarmed.

All teams, even those that end up winning the Stanley Cup, go through some adversity over the course of a season. Look at the St. Louis Blues, who triumphed over our Boston Bruins last summer – they were bottom of the standings heading into 2019.

As fans of the Boston Bruins; we can look at the team at present and feel a little disappointed by the way they’re playing – the last few games, it feels like the effort and energy levels aren’t quite where they need to be through the first couple of periods.

However, we must also look to the standings; there are only four teams in the entire league above us and within the Atlantic Division, there’s a three-point gap to our closest rival, who has played 2 more games than us.

More from Editorials

• Pavel Zacha’s veteran status leading to bigger role in 2023-24
• The Bruins should take a look at these four free agents
• Why the Bruins should wait to name a captain until after the season
• 3 players the Bruins can, 3 players could trade, 3 players they shouldn’t trade
• It’s time to offer Jake DeBrusk a contract extension

What we’re currently seeing is nothing more than a blip; this Boston Bruins team can’t go from winning 7-4 (and it could’ve been many more) over a weak New York Rangers outfit and putting 6 past the Pittsburgh Penguins to getting beaten up by the Red Wings and Flyers, without eventually re-finding that magic they had before.

You only need look at individual scoring charts to realise that the firepower that this Boston Bruins side possesses will push it back to winning ways sooner rather than later. Only Leon Draisatl has more points than David Pastrnak whilst Connor McDavid is the only player sperating Brad Marchand from his line-mate.

Look to those Edmonton Oilers and it really is propped up by just those two names (though I’m sure they’ll agree that James Neal‘s return to historic form has been a nice surprise). The Boston Bruins, comparatively, while they are reliant upon Pastrnak and Marchand’s point-scoring, have a line-up backing them up that has plenty of additional threats.

Patrice Bergeron and Torey Krug may be the only two that have cracked double figures thus far, but Danton Heinen and David Krejci have been stepping up of late, while Zdeno Chara, Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo and Jake Debrusk all have six points each.

Speaking of Jake Debrusk, his recent injury woes have been part of the pattern of the Boston Bruins’ year thus far. They may have welcomed Krejci back, but Debrusk went down shortly after – the team’s injury concerns once again are stacking up.

It’s not as bad as previous years yet, with the defense still fully intact, but losing the likes of Krejci, Karson Kuhlman, Debrusk and Joakim Nordstrom for games in a season that is only 17 games old, it doesn’t exactly scream ‘healthy’ as a team buzzword.

Already, the Boston Bruins’ depth has been put to the test with Anders Bjork doing a decent job since his promotion, Par Lindholm coming as advertised – steady, sturdy, but not much of a point-scorer and most recently, Cameron Hughes and Zach Senyshyn have seen game-time too.

Maybe the biggest reason not to be alarmed by three straight losses is that the Boston Bruins have one of the best goaltending tandems in the league, bar none. In Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, they have two goalies that on their day, can win games single-handedly, as they’ve already shown with three shut-outs between them at this early stage.

Let’s not be too concerned by the Boston Bruins’ recent form just yet. However, if we’re welcoming the league-leading Washington Capitals on Sunday having lost five straight, maybe there is reason to be alarmed and drastic action should be taken.