Bruins Notes: Boston ‘Can’t Plan For’ Persistent Issue In Losses
BOSTON — The Bruins didn’t have enough juice on Saturday.
It’s safe to say that definitively because head coach Jim Montgomery even agreed during his session with the media following a loss to the St. Louis Blues.
“I don’t know. We didn’t have a lot of juice in the tank,” Montgomery said. “I don’t know why we didn’t. We stayed overnight in Dallas so we would get proper sleep, to enable us to have legs today. We had legs in the first, but it kind of fell off after that.”
The B’s took an early advantage but ultimately fumbled away a victory in a similar fashion to the way St. Louis had in their previous matchup at Enterprise Center.
Trent Frederic and Charlie McAvoy were called for penalties just seconds apart to close the second period, which led to a four-on-three scenario entering the final stanza. Boston had also registered just 10 shots on goal to that point, and while it took a minute, their lack of offensive zone pressure came back to bite them when Blues forward Nathan Walker’s snipe tied the game midway through the period, and Brayden Schenn scored the game-winning goal to exact revenge in OT.
“We should have been able to close that one out today,” Montgomery said. “… You can’t plan for a lack of juice. We get to play in the greatest league in the world, and the excitement should come from within each individual to go out there and play in front of our great fans.”
Bruins-Blues produced some other noteworthy items on Saturday:
— Georgii Merkulov registered his first career point, assisting on Frederic’s goal at the midway point of the first period with a slick feed from the side of the net.
“It feels good, but a win would have been nice, too,” Merkulov said.
— Frederic had two goals in this one, with the second counting for his 100th point in the NHL. It’s the seventh time he’s had a multi-goal game in the last three seasons, so it’s safe to say he scores in bunches.
— Joonas Korpisalo was tremendous despite the loss, making 28 saves on 31 shots, including a trio of beauties in the first period that kept Boston in the fight.
“He made some high-level stops for us,” Montgomery said.
— Mark Kastelic left with an injury, forcing some lineup changes that saw Merkulov, David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Frederic move around. Montgomery said it was a day-to-day injury, so he shouldn’t be out very long.
— The Bruins will stay at TD Garden for a couple more, hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday. It’s an evening matchup, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.