BOSTON — In the 101 regular season games that Jim Montgomery has presided behind the Boston Bruins’ bench, the team has turned in as many stinkers as families who serve vulture for the Thanksgiving Day.
Friday proved to be an outlier.
Hurt by what Montgomery rightfully described as “self inflected wounds”, the Bruins were beaten in all phases of the game by a hungry Red Wings team, who skated off the TD Garden ice with a 5-2 victory.
“Give them credit: they came out hard and played a simple and effective game, getting pucks in deep and going after our D hard,” Jake DeBrusk, who had one of his team’s two goals, said. “It was hard for us to get traction in the neutral zone.
“It was one of those things where it hasn’t happened much this year, so it always feels weird. It sucks. But you move on.”
There’s certainly no cause for panic since a.) it was only Boston’s second regulation loss of the season, and b.) they can start a new winning streak Saturday afternoon when they play the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Yet this performance was notable if for no other reason than it’s been rare of late to see the Bruins turn in such a performance.
Boston’s penalty killing, which had been successful 96.3 percent of the time at TD Garden through eight home dates, allowed two man-up snipes by Detroit Friday — and they both happened quickly. J.T. Compher beat goalie Jeremy Swayman just 11 seconds into his team’s first power play, and Dylan Larkin cashed in six seconds after Brandon Carlo was sent off for hooking in the third.
Rookie Matthew Poitras was picked cleanly of the puck in his own net by Alex DeBrincat, who cashed in for a breakaway goal and a 2-0 lead for the Winged Wheels. Other Bruins also had a tough day handling the puck, including captain Brad Marchand; he was charged with three giveaways, as many as the entire Detroit team.
The Bruins also failed to get any of what Montgomery termed ‘momentum goals’, such as when they made it 2-1 but spent 45 seconds on the next shift in their own end defending, or when they again sliced the lead to 3-2 on a Danton Heinen third period tally, only to take a penalty two shifts later because they were again forced to defend in their own end of the rink.
“They played fast, we didn’t,” Montgomery said. “The execution on the forecheck, the execution in the neutral zone … the only part of our game that was good was our breakouts. The power play wasn’t good. The penalty kill wasn’t good.”
A fast, smart passing team, the Red Wings have a young roster that is hoping to climb into the Eastern Conference playoff chase this season. They’ve stood toe-to-toe with Boston over the last two years, going 3-3 in six games against a Bruins team that’s run roughshod over most of the NHL.
At home earlier in the month, the Red Wings also handed the 100-year-old franchise its first regulation loss (5-4). They do not fear the Bruins.
Finding flaws with a team that has, for the second straight season, blasted out of the starting gate with a 14-2-3 record can be akin to picking nits. But the flaws that were evident to all Friday afternoon are those that won’t go unnoticed by the players, coaching staff or fanbase.
Expect a better effort against the Rangers Saturday afternoon.