Bruins, Golden Knights refocus after end of streaks
Ahead of their Thursday matchup, the Boston Bruins and visiting Vegas Golden Knights are starting from scratch after having extended win streaks snapped.
To rookie coach Marco Sturm, the Bruins have a lesson to learn from Tuesday's 6-2 loss to the Dallas Stars, which ended Boston's six-game winning streak ahead of a key two-game homestand.
"How I see it is (the Stars), that's a playoff team. And even with some guys out of the lineup, they're willing to play that style of game -- just grind it out and stick with it," Sturm said. "And we didn't do it. We were still playing cute right to the end and you cannot play that way."
Dallas scored two goals in each period to race out to a 6-0 lead before Morgan Geekie and Fraser Minten lit the lamp for Boston, which had outscored opponents 27-7 during the six-win streak.
Jeremy Swayman, who had won three straight and five of his previous six starts, was pulled from the net in the third.
Such a team performance is all part of the journey of a season, the goaltender believes.
"I think there's still positives to be taken out," Swayman said. "It's hard to be punched in the mouth, but it's important. It's a long season. It's our job to get out of it."
One positive was Geekie breaking a 12-game scoring drought with his first goal since Dec. 20. He still leads the Bruins with 26 goals, six more than David Pastrnak.
Boston's second game of the homestand comes Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens, an Atlantic Division rival with five more points in the standings.
The Golden Knights open a four-game trip through the Atlantic on the heels of Monday's 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, which snapped their seven-win streak. Philadelphia had lost six straight before dealing Vegas its first loss since Jan. 4.
Things can change quickly in this compressed NHL season. Vegas was in a similar position (1-5-3 in a nine-game span) before the recent win streak.
"We were there three weeks ago," said Bruce Cassidy, the Golden Knights bench boss who previously coached Boston. "You know the feeling. You get sick of losing."
Tomas Hertl tied Monday's matchup in the second period, but poor special teams - the Vegas power play went for 1-for-7 and allowed Philadelphia's short-handed game-winner -- proved decisive.
Prior to Monday, Vegas had scored at least six goals three times in a four-game span.
"When you can get on a roll like that and you see the results of playing the right way, sometimes you can play the right way but it's not going your way," defenseman Noah Hanifin said. "I think the last seven games, guys are producing or winning games. It just shows what our team can do when we're playing to our identity."
Defenseman Rasmus Andersson has yet to debut for the Golden Knights as he works out his immigration visa status. He was not on the ice for Wednesday's practice in Boston.
Vegas acquired the 29-year-old soon-to-be Swedish Olympian in a Sunday trade with the Calgary Flames, beating the Bruins for his services.
"He's one of the better defensemen in the league," Hertl said. "He can move the puck. He can skate. He's not afraid to hit guys. Hopefully, he can get all the things done before the break and help us win a lot of games going forward."