Two games into their pivotal five-game road trip, the Boston Bruins are 0-1-1. Their latest outing was a 2-1 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames on Monday night. For the second straight game, the Bruins led 1-0 after the first period, but for the second straight game, they allowed the tying goal in the second period. They ended up losing in overtime on a Flames power play goal.
It was Boston's sixth straight loss, and they are 0-4-2 in the stretch. They last won a game 15 days ago when they took down the Utah Mammoth 4-1 at home to kick off a five-game homestand where they went 1-3-1. After their latest loss, head coach Marco Sturm is looking to get his team back on track going into Wednesday night's game against the Edmonton Oilers.
"We came out short a little bit [in Monday’s 2-1 overtime loss in Calgary], but we did a lot of good things, and we just want to work on it again today and try to improve every day,” said Sturm after practice in Edmonton on Tuesday. “So that was the message, and guys were, I think, the other area was off the ice too, just getting excited again. I think that little spark was missing [Monday].”
Wednesday night's game will be the second matchup in 13 days between the Bruins and Oilers, with Edmonton winning the first game, 3-1, at the TD Garden on Dec. 18. It will also be the second time the Black and Gold face former teammate Trent Frederic.
P-Bruins return with some lineup additions
The Providence Bruins will return to action on Wednesday afternoon when they play the Springfield Thunderbirds on the road. Earlier this week, Boston activated Matej Blumel and Michael Callahan off injured reserve and sent them to the American Hockey League (AHL). Prospect Georgii Merkulov has four goals and an assist for the P-Bruins in their last two games.
Bruins prospects play on New Year's Eve
Team USA will play Team Sweden on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in he final pool play game in the 2026 World Junior Championship in Minnesota. It's a monster battle for seeding in the quarterfinals that begins on Friday. Boston prospects Will Zellers and James Hagens are playing for Team USA After a slow start for Hagens, he had two goals in a win over Team Slovakia on Monday night. Zellers had an excellent start to the tournament for Team USA.