Bruins takeaway: Star player, power play, ailing B's in a bad start

Bruins takeaway: Star players, power-play struggling B's in poor start originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Bruins ended their losing streak with an overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. It was a much-needed two points, but the real positive from this game was that the team's offense finally came to life, scoring four goals, including captain Brad Marchand's first goal of the season.

It looked like the B's were finally coming out of their doldrums.

And then Tuesday night happened.

The Bruins posted one of their worst performances of the 2024-25 NHL season with a 2-0 loss to a poor Philadelphia Flyers team that came to TD Garden with a 2-6-1 record and a minus-13 goal difference . The Bruins trailed 1-0 early in the third period and were only able to gain a lead three Shots on net in the last 20 minutes of the game.

The loss caused the Bruins to drop to 4-5-1 and finish in a four-way tie for last place in the Atlantic Division.

After a home game in which they lost 5-2 to the Dallas Stars, beat the Leafs 4-3 in overtime and then were shut out by the Flyers, the Bruins now go on the road, starting with Thursday night's game against the Carolina Hurricanes .

But before we take a look at this matchup, let's take a look at three key takeaways from the home game that just ended.

Power struggle struggles

The Bruins had a 5-on-3 power play for 97 seconds in the first period Tuesday night, with their top unit on the ice: Elias Lindholm, David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Pavel Zacha and Charlie McAvoy. Slow puck movement and an inability to put shots on net doomed the B's, and they ended up only having one shot on goal during that two-man advantage.

The Bruins only had one shot on goal in the nearly five-minute power play against the Flyers. With the man advantage, they took a 0-4 lead overall. Boston scored just two goals on 13 power play opportunities during the three-game homestand.

A big problem on Tuesday's power play was the inability to put shots on net. The Flyers blocked a lot of shots, but the Bruins also made it pretty easy for them.

What can the Bruins do to get pucks through?

“Faster puck movement,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after the game. “If you move the puck fast enough and think about the shot first, they won’t be in the shooting lane. You have one player less. Especially in the 5-on-3 game, they are two players fewer.”

The B's rank 25th in the league with a 14.3 percent power play success rate. The Bruins need the power play to be effective as they struggle to score at 5-on-5, where they rank 24th with just 15 goals in 10 games. So far, the power play has only exacerbated these scoring woes.

Clearer puck movement, more traffic in front of the net and cleaner zone entries are all ways to get this power play back on track.

Who will conquer the second right wing?

In training camp and pre-season, the top squad was fighting for second place on the right wing alongside Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand. Nobody really nailed it, not even top candidate Fabian Lysell, who didn't make the opening night list.

Morgan Geekie began the season in that role, which made sense given his reliable two-way play and offensive prowess after setting career highs with 17 goals and 22 assists in his first season in Boston. But Geekie completely disappeared on offense early in the season. He scored zero goals with just one assist. He has had one or fewer shots on goal in six of his nine games played.

Justin Brazeau found some momentum early for the home team, scoring a goal against the Stars and Leafs before failing to score against the Flyers. He went scoreless in five of his eight games, and in only one of those encounters did he take more than two shots.

Matthew Poitras, Trent Frederic and Mark Kastelic have also taken up positions on the right wing in the second row. None of these steps worked. Poitras is better suited in the center where he can utilize his impressive playmaking abilities. Kastelic has been one of Boston's best players this season and has developed great chemistry on the fourth line with John Beecher and Cole Koepke. It's risky to break up the one trio that worked this season.

Lysell has his deficiencies defensively – which is certainly not the case only with him, he is only 21 years old. But his dynamic offensive skills are desperately needed on this Bruins roster. He has a great shot, he's a talented playmaker and his speed keeps opposing defenders on their toes. All of these skills would also be welcome in Boston's difficult power game.

After such a terrible offensive performance against the Flyers, it's time for real change, and calling Lysell out of Providence is the best internal move the Bruins can make. If that doesn't work, maybe it's time to make a trade for some variety. But the best option right now would be to see if Lysell can provide a much-needed spark.

The best six players must appear

It's hard to win when the best players don't get on the scoresheet regularly. The Bruins were able to overcome this problem early in the season when the Beecher-Kastelic-Koepke fourth line lost its mind offensively, but that was never a sustainable solution.

Elias Lindholm was the team's top-selling signing in free agency as a top-six center. But after a strong start that saw him score five points in his first three games, Lindholm has zero points in his last six games. Pavel Zacha has zero goals and one assist in his last six games. Brad Marchand has scored one goal in 10 games and was the overtime winner against the Leafs over the weekend.

Charlie Coyle set career highs last season with 25 goals and 60 points. He has only found the net once in 10 games. He also has zero assists. His four shots on goal in the last five games combined are simply not good enough.

David Pastnak scored goals against the Stars and Leafs and overall he has at least one point in six of ten games. He is the only top-six forward who has shown any kind of consistency.

“I think on any team, the best players — the star players — have to carry the weight offensively,” Montgomery told reporters after the game. “Those are the players who play on the power play and those are the players where the offense doesn’t come together for us.”