When the Boston Bruins hired Marco Sturm as their next coach, it signaled a change in style. The Bruins were going to be a team that prides itself on defense and goaltending. Build from the back out and let the offense come to them.
Through their first three games, they played that way perfectly for Sturm. There were leaks on Monday afternoon in a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at home. After three days off before beginning a three-game road trip in Vegas against the Golden Knights, there was time to fix it.
They didn't and paid for it in a 6-5 loss to the Golden Knights.
Bruins superstar David Pastrnak reveals lone positive in loss to Golden Knights
Talk about a perfect way to begin a game. Tanner Jeannot opened the scoring for the Black and Gold just 2:05 into the game. A bad pinch at the offensive blueline and Viktor Arvidsson getting smoked on defense led to the game-tying goal just 1:20 later.
Nikita Zadorov regained the Boston lead at 2-1 near the end of the first period, but once again, Vegas responded, just 1:49 later, to tie the game. The Golden Knights added three second-period goals, including a back-breaking shorthanded goal with 1:36 left after Boston had a solid penalty kill that included a 5-on-3.
Vegas extended the lead to 6-3 in the third before goals from Mark Kastelic and Mikey Eyssimont cut the deficit to 6-5. They were not able to tie the game and lost. Getting into a shootout on the scoreboard is not the recipe for success in 2025-26 for the Boston Bruins. Mistake after mistake ended up in the back of the net, something that rarely happened in the first three games.
“A lot of mistakes today,” Pastrnak said. “We had a lot of breakdowns that end up in our net. We had an amazing kill. ‘Sway’ was standing on his head. We have to be better as a team. We showed fight back. That's pretty much the only positive from tonight's game.”
Swayman finished with 31 saves in the game, but he allowed some goals that were bad bounces and defensive breakdowns. Those are going to happen, but when you're playing a team with the offensive firepower that the Golden Knights have, that's not a recipe for success. The Bruins found that out on Thursday night.