Tuesday's thrilling comeback win over the St. Louis Blues was supposed to be a game-changer for the Boston Bruins.
They had turned what looked like another crushing loss into arguably their best win of the season by erasing a 2-0 third-period deficit, helped by several struggling players making meaningful contributions, including Davd Pastrnak ending a seven-game goal drought on the winning tally.
And then Thursday night in Dallas happened.
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All the momentum the Bruins had built from their win against the Blues was quickly torn down with another awful defeat to the Stars. The Stars led 2-0 at one point in the first period, then increased their advantage to 5-1 entering the third period before ultimately winning 7-2.
Cookies taste good!
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) November 15, 2024
RYSE | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/rnUlLO2qQf
"We lost every battle. Soft on the puck. Soft everywhere. Not finishing checks. Just got embarrassed today," Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov told reporters postgame.
There's a lot of issues with this Bruins team right now. A lack of 5-on-5 scoring, too many penalties, an ineffective power play, top players not producing, bad third periods and Jeremy Swayman not playing like a No. 1 goalie are atop the list.
But another major problem is a lack of consistency.
Just when you think this team has maybe turned a corner with an impressive win, the B's are unable to build off it and establish any sort of consistency. The Bruins have a 2-4-2 record after a victory this season.
They have not had a win streak longer than two games. They had two of them by Nov. 15 last season, including a six-game win streak to begin the campaign. The Bruins' longest point streak this year is just three games.
"It's been frustrating all year that we haven't been able to string three or four consistent games where we feel our habits and details are consistently there," Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters postgame Thursday.
🎥 Coach Montgomery, Nikita Zadorov, Jeremy Swayman, and Pavel Zacha react following the #NHLBruins 7-2 loss to the Stars on Thursday night in Dallas: pic.twitter.com/wynyXtoZXo
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 15, 2024
These sort of "one step forward, two steps back" kinds of results could make it challenging for the Bruins to make the playoffs. The Bruins now have a 8-8-2 record and rank 10th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage.
One way for the Bruins to get back on track is for Swayman to play much better. He let in a career-high seven goals in Thursday's defeat to the Stars. On the season, Swayman has a 5-6-2 record with a .888 save percentage and a 3.35 GAA. His minus-4.6 goals saved above expected ranks 65th out of 74 qualifying goalies, per MoneyPuck.
To be clear, Swayman isn't getting much help from the team in front of him. In fact, he's getting almost no help on some nights. He's not the No. 1 or No. 2 reason why this team has been so average through 18 games.
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But given the Bruins' struggles offensively -- 27th in goals per game, 32nd in power-play percentage -- they need him to steal a couple games, which he's perfectly capable of doing and has done many times in his career.
One positive for the Bruins is their upcoming schedule. They have struggled versus good teams this season, posting a 4-6-2 record against opponents currently in a playoff spot. They won't face many of those teams over the next couple weeks. Nine of their next 11 games are against teams outside of a playoff spot. Eight of those 11 matchups will be at TD Garden.
If the Bruins can't string together a couple wins in a row against bad teams, especially with most of these upcoming games at home, that would tell us a lot about this group and its chances of doing anything in the spring.