Bruins vs. Predators 10/22/24 RECAP: Sisyphean Offensive effort

During the first period, the Predators dominated the front of the net. Late in the period, Max Jones was sent off for tripping, and Ryan O’Reilly scored 11 seconds later on a tip from Roman Josi. Predators 1-0.

Unfortunately, that was not the game’s worst moment. Let’s move on.

Boston improved their performance in the second period. They kept everything moving!

Unfortunately, the Bruins continued to allow Nashville near-unrestricted access to the net, and Tommy Novak took advantage of Boston’s inability to clear the net and scored Nashville’s second goal. Predators 2-0.
Mr. Novak has set his third goal of the year. If he donned black and gold, he’d be the team’s second-leading scorer.

Let’s get this over with.

Third Period:

Things evened out in the third, but the Bruins’ offensive woes persisted as they couldn’t find a way to beat Juuse Saros, and in fact they found ways to beat themselves, such as a turnover by Zadorov and a failed keep-in that gave Gustav Nyquist a breakaway, which he wired home to make Nashville’s lead essentially unassailable. The Predators are 3-0.

The Bruins attempted to rescue something from an empty net, but there was little hope. Boston also allowed a goal to Luke Evangelista, who scored his first of the season on an empty netter.
Hampus Lindholm led the TOI with 22:36.

The Boston Bruins offensive is unraveling at an alarming rate. The Boston Bruins lack juice at all stages of the game, as well as puck coordination. They cannot create harmful opportunities or meaningfully assault the internet. They are inexplicably slow. Their top six, as well as their middle six minute-munchers, are underperforming. When both your stars and your fourth line appear to be critical to your team’s success, you’re in big danger. The Bruins desperately need more from their top lines. There are simply no other options.

Even worse, the Bruins defense has, in my opinion, become completely reliant on Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm performing at their A+++ levels or things will become squirrelly in a hurry. They consistently fail to move out of the zone, and they are now experiencing puck control troubles at the offensive zone’s point. I would suggest that Jeremy Swayman should seek financial recompense for having to put up with this, but he has already received it, so I suppose he might ask his skaters for tips.

0-fer on the power play, which appears to be worsening with each consecutive penalty called. It has a very Sisyphean feel about it. Currently ranked 24th overall, and if the Ducks weren’t on a ridiculous streak of terrible power plays, that could be significant. Something needs to change there.

Nikita Zadorov hasn’t been particularly horrible as a Bruin (albeit tonight wasn’t his best night), but he can’t keep out of the box, and while their PK hasn’t suffered yet, it would definitely be better with him on it rather than him watching it once a game.

Mason Lohrei reverting to the player he was during the regular season last year, one who struggles with decision-making, has profoundly puzzling puck-management issues, and begins drifting out in space where he shouldn’t be, is incredibly disheartening. I was informed he was better than that. I wanted to believe it too. Now I’m just annoyed and tired.

The Max Jones experiment is over, unless proven differently. Routinely a net-negative in possession, he was directly responsible for Nashville’s first goal, which came from the final two penalties of the first period. This was, by far, his best game in a Bruins uniform. That should be mortifying.

Elias Lindholm is one of the Bruins’ most perplexing players; he has played in every game and has virtually no middle ground in terms of on-ice performance. He has been either an extreme positive (over 60% in shooting stats) or an extreme negative (about 30% at best). Tonight was not a good Lindholm night, and despite Pasta and Zacha driving fans crazy, he stood out. For me, he continues to stand out because of the pendulum swing in his effectiveness. At least he won the majority of his faceoffs.

Jeremy Swayman had a.927 SV% night. Given Boston’s current performance, he’ll need to be at least a.960 player to get anything done.

Fans are concerned about Jim Montgomery’s ability to push this club to play better. It’s normal for supporters to blame higher-level leadership for awful runs like this, especially…but I believe the better issue for this club to consider is…what more can he do than exchange on-roster players? Call up Fabian Lysell? Let Tyler Johnson take a go or two. Continue initiating battles until you mistakenly place a team’s star in the garbage for five minutes. Have all of the coaches screamed until the paint peels in the locker room and at Warriors? He’s got the ingredients he’s been given; a team that may have gone in on one side of the game when it should’ve gone in on many others, and now he has to prepare a meal with them. When Cole Koepke leads your team in scoring after seven games? Something has gone very, very wrong, and let’s be honest: a coach can only do so much. Their problems are, I’m afraid, too huge for one individual to solve without unlimited access to a buyout calendar and a list of forthcoming free agents.

It is still early. Perhaps playing in Boston will perk them up.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s simple game because the Dallas Stars are on their way to Boston. The game is on Thursday at 7 p.m.

We will see you there.

Bruins vs. Predators 10/22/24 RECAP: Sisyphean Offensive effort hands Preds first win in 4-0 Loss

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