It feels like most, if not all decisions, that first-year Boston Bruins coach Marco Sturm is making this year turn up gold. When he benches a player (or calls them a healthy scratch), that player responds when they return to the lineup.
When the Bruins hosted the Vancouver Canucks at the TD Garden on Saturday night, Sturm made two curious decisions. In fact, two decisions were surprising. When the dust settled, they were decisions that, well, backfired in what was a 5-4 shootout loss to a team that has struggled all year long, playing some good as of late, but still a game where anything less than two points at the end was a failure.
Two Marco Sturm decisions that backfired in Bruins loss to Canucks
Sure, we could include Sturm's bizarre decision to send defenseman Andrew Peeke out to win the game in a shootout as another decision that backfired, but we already covered that. As far as lineup decisions went before the game, Sturm inserted Jeffrey Viel into the lineup and scratched Alex Steeves. Then he started Jeremy Swayman for a fourth straight game.
For the sake of Steeves being scratched, either there is an injury Sturm isn't tipping his hand with, or it's just a head-scratching decision. You need depth scoring, and he has been providing that. Then there's Swayman.
Four games in six days for Swayman caught up with him. He completely misplayed a puck in the second period that led to a Vancouver power play goal into an open net. Yes, he was great in the shootout, but he didn't look like the goalie he has been.
Securing a second point against the Canucks was a must. They were on a back-to-back, and Boston dominated them. Instead, they were lucky to even secure one point. Now they face two more games, two divisional games, against the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens before the Christmas Break in what are must-wins with a long road trip out west beginning next Saturday night.