When the horn sounded on Thursday night at the TD Garden, the Boston Bruins suffered their second loss on home ice this season, with a 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Ironically, both losses on home ice have been to division foes, with a 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators last month.
However, the loss to Montreal was a lot like the one to the Senators. Truth be told, it was a wake-up call for the Black and Gold. On Friday morning, they held a practice at the TD Garden ahead of Saturday night's matchup with the Minnesota Wild. Despite being on the ice, head coach Marco Sturm had what he felt was a good video session to get some of his message across.
“I think our practice today was video. We touched on a few things, areas we have to get better, but in general, the message today was by video,” Sturm said, per BostonBruins.com. “Just wanted to make it very clear to the guys how the game went yesterday and how we have to get better.”
Marco Sturm sends a clear message after the Canadiens' loss
There is no doubt that there are things that they need to do better. For example, how about a better start? How about getting pucks out of the zone when they can? How about better structure in all three zones?
Is Montreal three goals better than the Bruins? Probably on paper, but certainly for 60 minutes, Thursday night, they were. They also had the better goalie in the game in terms of coming up with some key saves at key times, compared to Jeremy Swayman and his inability, really, for the first time this year, failed to do so. He wasn't able to get to the angles he normally would have, and he did cover up the puck quickly enough before Josh Anderson poked it in.
Then, in the second period, he did what he rarely does: he left the five-hole open on a Jake Evans breakaway. Sure, Swayman could have been better, so couldn't have everyone else on the roster. I'm sure that was the message. Well, at least of them.
The message needed to be heard loud and clear. The Minnesota Wild will come to Boston on Saturday night, and they already handed the Black and Gold a loss last month. If the Bruins don't clean things up quickly, it could be another ugly night. Message sent, message needs to be received.
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