If second-year Boston Bruins coach Marco Sturm wanted to point the finger at someone, anyone, for Monday night's 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators, he had no shortage of candidates. Really, there are several people who could be blamed for the loss.
However, in the end, Sturm is refusing to blame some of his younger players, instead sending a subtle message to his veterans.
Marco Sturm sends subtle quote to veterans after Senators loss
Monday night's game was a masterclass in mistakes for the Bruins. It was a night of self-inflicted mistakes that were all avoidable. All four goals were gift-wrapped for an Ottawa team that was down some of their best players, but took full advantage of the Bruins' sloppy and lazy play. David Pastrnak, Hampus Lindholm, and James Hagens all made offensive zone turnovers that led to Sens goals. However, Sturm isn't blaming Hagens for his mistake.
“I won’t blame him. He’s a kid who needs to learn. I think our top guys, games like this, they have to be in charge,” Sturm said, per Belle Fraser of BostonBruins.com. “I think overall as a group, we have to help those kids out. And the kids have to play better as well. But I won’t blame my young guys for that. They’re kids; they need to learn the hard way sometimes, but they need help. And that’s all of us.”
Pastrnak had the first turnover in the offensive zone, with Tim Stutzle converting a 2-on-1 for a shorthanded goal and a 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, and three seconds after the Bruins' power play ended, Lindholm made an ill-advised pass at the offensive blueline that led to a second Stutzle goal.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Hagens, who was on a long shift to begin the second period, failed to get a puck in deep at the offensive blueline, and Stutzle stripped him of the puck and sent Drake Batherson in on a breakaway for a 3-0 lead. Plain and simple, during a line change and with a long change in the second period for the defensemen, Hagens needs to dump that puck behind the Senators' net.
A few minutes later, teh Black and Gold were pinned in their own zone with multiple opportunities to clear the puck, only to have Ottawa keep the puck in and extend their lead to 4-0. Exiting the defensive zone has been an issue, and it was compounded by the mistakes against the Senators.
Boston is struggling to get shots on the net early in the season, nevermind scoring goals. For a team built to play from the front, chasing multiple goals is not a recipe for success for Sturm's team. Young players are going to make mistakes and need to learn from them. Veterans need to pick them up, and instead of doing that, the Black and Gold veterans made them do so. That won't be many, if any, games in 2026-27 for the Bruins.
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