When the Boston Bruins left for their current four-game road trip last week, heading out to California, they did so coming off a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. It was a loss that was uninspiring after a hard-fought 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens two nights earlier, when Charlie McAvoy was lost after taking a puck to the face off a deflected shot.
The four-game road trip that the Black and Gold are on will wrap up on Wednesday night on Long Island against the New York Islanders. The trip has produced a 1-2-0 record so far for the Bruins, and as has been the case so many times this year, it feels like they left some points on the table in their two regulation losses.
Boston enters the last stop on their trip against the Islanders, currently holding down the last Eastern Conference wild-card spot, tied with the Washington Capitals. However, dropping two of their first three games on the trip caused them to tumble in CBS Sports' power rankings.
Bruins take biggest tumble in CBS Sports power rankings
Boston fell seven spots in CBS Sports' latest power rankings, going from No. 7 to No. 14. Why? Well, while they are scoring goals, they are not keeping them out of their net, according to Austin Nivison.
"The Bruins are suddenly a high-flying offensive squad, thanks to David Pastrnak and future 58-goal scorer Morgan Geekie. They've needed all of those goals too because their goal differential is still slightly below water at minus-2,'' Nivison wrote.
Again, it feels like the Bruins left some points on the table in California. They lost on a late goal to the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3, last Wednesday night before beating the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1, in overtime two nights later on two Morgan Geekie goals. They closed out their stop in California with a 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks, which was a very winnable game.
It can't be stated how important the game with the Islanders is, as an afternoon game against the New York Rangers awaits on Friday, then the Detroit Red Wings visit on Saturday night. Points are valuable over the next couple of days against conference playoff hopefuls.