What was supposed to be a promising home stand for the Boston Bruins, with five games before the Holiday break and then a five-game road trip following that, was a complete disaster for Marco Sturm and his team.
When the dust settled, the Black and Gold went 1-3-1 with some really head-scratching decisions from Sturm, to say the least. By the time the final horn sounded on Tuesday night after a 6-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins looked like a team that could use the three-day break. However, you can't deny the home stand was a complete disaster, and Alex Steeves summed it up perfectly.
“The whole homestand, going into the break is unfortunate, but it’s moments like these where you find out how tight the group is,” Steeves said. “I know we’ll bounce back from this and we’ll be stronger because of it. It stings for now, but we have three days to refresh mentally and come back with a huge push before the Olympic break (in February).”
Steeves scored one of Boston's two goals, a late first-period power-play strike, which was the final shot to get by Montreal goalie Jacob Fowler. To say that the five-game road trip after the break is season-defining is a major understatement.
Viktor Arvidsson returns against the Canadiens
Forward Viktor Arvidsson returned to the lineup after missing the last five games due to getting injured against the Winnipeg Jets on Boston's three-game road trip. He played 14:34 with a pair of shots on the net, but you could tell he had not played in a while on Montreal's game-winning goal.
Nikita Zadorov's stick snapped on a pass, and Nick Suzuki broke in on Jermey Swayman, who made the save before the puck went to a wide-open Zachary Bolduc, who buried the rebound into an empty net for the game-winning goal and broke a 2-2 tie. Arvidsson was trailing the play and couldn't get back in time to back-check Bolduc.
“It was nice to be back and skating again and battling and stuff and be on the bench,” Arvidsson said. “Be with the guys. It felt good.”
Bruins odds and ends
- The Bruins claimed defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok off waivers from the Dallas Stars on Dec. 16, and he made his Boston debut on Tuesday night against the Canadiens. The left-shot played 10:35 and had one shot on the net.
- Sean Kuraly played in his 600th game against Montreal and won eight of his 14 faceoffs in the game.
- The Providence Bruins are off until Saturday night when they visit the Springfield Thunderbirds at 6:05 p.m. They return to Western Massachusetts on New Year's Eve afternoon to play the Thunderbirds again.