Before the Boston Bruins hosted the New York Rangers on Friday afternoon at the TD Garden, head coach Marco Sturm announced that David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha were going to miss the game with injuries. Both players were deemed day-to-day.
Missing one of the two would be hard enough, but to miss both against the Rangers, well, that made it an almost impossible task for the Black and Gold. If there was any good news, the Bruins got back Casey Mittlestadt from injured reserve, but it didn't make a difference in the 6-2 loss despite him scoring the first Boston goal of the game.
After the game, Sturm, who was less than thrilled with his team's effort, he said "No idea'' if either player would be available for Saturday night's game against the Detroit Red Wings. Boston will hold a pregame skate at the TD Garden, and we should have some clarity as to whether or not either will be able to play.
Morgan Geekie: "It’s just not a very acceptable effort today.”
After Mittlestadt opened the scoring for the Bruins early in the third period to cut a 4-0 deficit to 4-1, Morgan Geekie tallied his 18th goal of the season to bring Boston within two goals. However, that would be as close as they would get, and after the game, Geekie didn't beat around the bush about his team's performance, even shorthanded
“Obviously, we know the firepower that we lost, but at least for me, games like this are an opportunity for a lot of guys to step up and seize opportunity, and that’s how you kind of make it in this league. I think up, and down the lineup we didn’t show up to start the game,” Geekie said. “It’s just not a very acceptable effort today.”
The game against the Red Wings at home is a huge one early in the season and is the front end of a home-and-home with Boston in Detroit on Tuesday night.
Penalties, penalties, penalties
After calling out his team on their recent four-game road trip, the number of penalties his team takes, Sturm couldn't have been happy with the penalties taken in the second period that led to a pair of power-play goals 45 seconds apart. Those were big goals, as when the Bruins cut the deficit to 4-2 in the third period, it could have tied the game.