The Bruins fall to Dallas 5-2, another mistake-filled loss

The good news for the Bruins is that it's only October. The bad news is that if they continue to play like this, their season will be over by Thanksgiving.

The B's continued their self-destructive ways as they lost 5-2 to the Dallas Stars at the Garden on Thursday, their third straight loss.

The first 40 minutes weren't pretty. They kept turning the puck over. With five more penalties they increased their league-leading number of penalties. The passing was terrible. They couldn't even make the simple plays like putting pucks deep. And they let goalie Jeremy Swayman (26 saves) down for most of the first two periods.

Even the previously infallible fourth line conceded a goal.

Dallas scored three power play goals in a row in the first 8:59 minutes of the second period, putting the B's in a hole they couldn't get out of.

The Stars are clearly a cup contender. The Bruins still have a long way to go to get promoted in their league. It remains to be seen whether the B players' deficiencies are fixable or fatal, but there is a crisis of confidence in their game at the moment.

“That’s pretty significant,” coach Jim Montgomery said of the confidence deficit. “But our mindset needs to move in a better, healthier direction. Like when you try to control what you can control, which means you try to outdo your role. Our attitude is not based on the moment, but on the results. And when your mindset is focused on results, you tend to take too many penalties because you get frustrated easily, and you tend to turn the puck over a lot because you don't want to work for the offense. You want immediate results. And that attitude of not being willing to work for what we want to achieve and our team play is causing some problems at the moment.”

There was a distinct and conscious atmosphere in the dressing room, without panic.

“Many of the mistakes we make and the reasons we feel like we are losing are due to a lack of respect for the game and a lack of continuity in the details,” said captain Brad Marchand. “These are things that can be repaired. If you lack effort and the guys don't care, that's a whole different problem. And that's not what we have. When you go through phases like this, you need to find a way out and simplify a little. You could see in the second and third half that we were already shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties and the like, but if we play right we are a good team at the moment. It’s just harder for us to understand that we have to do this the whole game.”

The B's had struggled through the last two months of October, but they added a few big plays in Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov as well as several deep plays. Growing pains were somewhat expected, but they must be more than expected.

“We’re just getting started,” said Charlie McAvoy, who had a few gifts. “We’re trying to figure out how to do our best. Yes, we don't like these results, we admit that. It was different than in the past when we ran and shot. I think we're fine. We're not panicking here. We need to play better, but we’re still trying to find ways (to do that).”

The B's best players have some of the biggest problems right now. Marchand, still hoping for his first goal, took two penalties. McAvoy had his weaknesses and his passes weren't crisp, especially on the power play. And David Pastrnak picked up two more penalties, giving him seven minor penalties in eight games.

“I honestly can’t remember taking so many penalties in my career,” Pastrnak said. “I definitely took too many penalties today and have to watch my stick.”

The Bruins seemed intent on shooting themselves in the foot for most of the first period. They were accused of giving away 12 giveaways in the first period. But it was a bad mishap in Dallas that led to the Bruins taking their first lead of the game.

Marchand was in the box for high-sticking, but 46 seconds into the Stars' PP, Jamie Benn negated that with a slashing penalty, which he then compounded with an unsportsmanlike penalty when he hit his stick against the glass.

In the first 4-on-4 game, Matt Dumba dropped a pass to no one behind his own net, which Matt Poitras was able to intercept. He came out from behind the net and saw a wide-open Pastrnak in the slot. Poitras put it on a tee shot and Pastrnak fired it past the helpless Casey DeSmith at 11:57 for the fifth time this year.

But the B's couldn't do anything with the extended power play. In fact, they needed Swayman to stop Wyatt Johnston's short-handed breakaway after McAvoy's pass landed in Pastrnak's skates and they passed it to Johnston. The power play remains a constant theme for this team, especially in the first session.

Swayman saw plenty of close-range opportunities in the first period and was up to the challenge until Matt Duchene beat him at the top with a wrist shot from the inside of the left circle. The goal came with the line of Cole Koepke, Mark Kastelic and Johnny Beecher on the ice, the first time this season that this line resulted in a goal.

Then in the second period the roof collapsed on them.

A lost puck battle on the first faceoff of the second period led to a Dallas power play and the Stars' first lead of the night. Logan Stankoven beat McAvoy from the drop because of a loose puck on the boards and disaster ensued. Hampus Lindholm crashed trying to turn and Roope Hintz headed off to race. He didn't score, but Pastrnak was called for a hook. Twenty seconds later, Jason Robertson shot the puck over Swayman for a 2-1 lead 31 seconds into the period.

The comedy of errors continued. Parker Wotherspoon missed a puck just inside Boston's blue line and was penalized for an interference penalty against Duchene. In the PP, Stankoven hit an open shot from the top of the goal to make it 3-1 at 4:57.

The carnage didn't stop.

Pastrnak took a penalty in the offensive zone and the Stars tied the score at 3-3, with their old friend Tyler Seguin beating Swayman with a wide-open shot from the right circle at 8:59.

In a timeout before the shootout, Montgomery implored his players to kill the penalty and then start hitting and skating. They didn't follow his first order, but they did follow the second. They earned a power play and eventually caused some desperation when the second unit came on the court. Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic recovered the puck behind the net and Frederic fed Justin Brazeau from the top of the crease for the first time of the season at 10:41 of the second

The B's carried the game into the third period, but the finishing touch just wasn't there. The damage was done and Roope Hintz's empty-net goal with 2:02 left removed any doubts, if there were any.

Originally published: October 24, 2024 at 9:35 p.m