When the Boston Bruins departed earlier this week for a two-game road trip against the St. Louis Blues, they were looking to make a little bit of a statement that their 9-2-1 start to the season was no fluke.
It didn't happen.
The Bruins dropped a 2-1 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes, where the better team grinded out a one-goal win in the third period. Then, 48 hours later, the St. Louis Blues, who are not a better team than the Black and Gold, did what they wanted for the first 40 minutes to grab a 3-1 lead entering the third period en route to a 4-1 win. Two games, 48 shots on net combined, and just two goals. That won't win many, if any, games at any level. After the latest loss, captain David Pastrnak summed up the two games in which they were outscored 6-2.
“Tough road trip. Didn’t play to our standard. The biggest takeaway is when we are winning, we flip the page, we come to work the next day and get better,” Pastrnak said, per BostonBruins.com. “It’s hard, but we’re going to do the same. We have a big game Saturday, so we’re going to get home, get better tomorrow and get back in the winning column.”
Bruins were outplayed on a two-game road trip by the Hurricanes and the Blues
Losing both games has shrunk the Bruins' Atlantic Division lead over the last three days. However, you can't help but think about how things would have gone if Matthew Poitras' backhander toward an empty net in the third period of a 1-1 game in Carolina had gone in before the defending Stanley Cup champs scored the game-winning goal.
Regardless, you're not going to win games when you play as sloppily on your own end as the Bruins did on the trip, and really, they were getting away with it in most of their wins as well. The law of averages finally caught up with them. It happened on Carolina's game-tying goal on Tuesday and then in the second period in St. Louis.
Philip Broberg and Robert Thomas gave the Blues a 3-1 lead when they were both left alone in the slot and were able to pick their spots on Jeremy Swayman to light the lamp. When the Bruins are playing their system, those breakdowns don't happen.
If there were a way to sum up the trip, it was the third period. The Bruins outshot the Blues, 14-2, but came up empty while St. Louis added a power-play goal on one of their two shots. Now they return home to host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday afternoon in what has suddenly become a gut-check game.
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