Kicking off a four-game road trip on Thursday night against the shorthanded Florida Panthers, the Boston Bruins were looking to solidify their spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Instead of extending their four-game winning streak, the Black and Gold laid an egg and lost 2-1.
They allowed two goals in the first eight minutes, and that was the difference. Slow starts have been an issue, and it reared its ugly head on Thursday night. Fraser Minten added a late first-period goal, but it wasn't enough to mount a comeback. After the game, head coach Marco Sturm was clearly upset with his team's effort and not respecting the Panthers. He had another message for his team ahead of Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I think overall, every time you're a little bit harder on them, I feel like they respond better,” said Sturm. “(Thursday) again, (the Panthers) have a lot of guys out, and we've seen that picture before. I’ve seen it before. We just took it a little bit too lightly, I thought. Maybe I'm wrong, but that just can't happen, especially this time of year, so that's why it was so frustrating…we didn't, we didn't play our game for 40 minutes, and that cost us the game.”
David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy miss practice in Tampa
As the Bruins took the ice in Tampa Bay for practice, two players were noticeably missing, David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy. Both players have been logging heavy minutes as of late, and them getting a day off would not have been surprising.
That was the case as it was a maintenance day for both players with a daunting back-to-back coming up. After the game on Saturday against the Lightning, the Bruins will board a plane and head to Philadelphia for a matchup with the Flyers. Somehow, someway, Boston needs some type of points this weekend. If they lose both games in regulation, things could get dicey in terms of a playoff berth.
Maple Leafs officially eliminated from playoff contention
After a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks in Northern California on Thursday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs were officially eliminated from the Eastern Conference playoff picture. You might be thinking, " Who cares?" Well, by now, you know that the Bruins have a great interest in how Toronto finishes out the 2025-26 season.
Boston owns the Maple Leafs' first-round draft pick, which is top-5 protected. Nobody saw the implosion coming that Toronto is having this year. If the pick falls inside the top 5, it becomes an unprotected pick next season.