After their third straight loss at home, the Bruins find themselves in a precarious position in their hunt for a playoff spot.
What the Bruins hoped would be a hay-making homestand is producing more uncomfortable questions than points.
After beating the Utah Mammoth to start the five-game residency, the B’s lost to the Edmonton Oilers, squandered a winnable game in a shootout to the Vancouver Canucks and, on Sunday night, took a thorough beating at the hands of the Ottawa Senators, 6-2, at the Garden.
In many critical junctures of the game, the B’s found themselves outworked by the Sens and, though Ottawa may yet turn out to be the class of Atlantic Division, that should not be happening.
Their penalty kill, good at the start of the season, has fallen on very hard times recently. The PK allowed two more power-play goals on Sunday, the seventh straight game they’ve allowed a PP goal. The B’s also seem to be in search of the right combination for the top line. Sunday’s iteration – David Pastrnak-Pavel Zacha-Casey Mittelstadt – finished minus-2 and were outplayed by the Sens’ big guns.
They have one game to get right against their archrival Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday at the Garden before the three-day Christmas break. After that, the B’s will play five straight on the road, where they’re 8-9. As tight as the Eastern Conference standings are, one lengthy slump could put this team down too deep a hole.
All of a sudden, the B’s find themselves in a precarious spot.
Sunday’s game was never really close.
Prior to the game, Marco Sturm called the Senators one of the best teams in the league. Then the B’s went out and made them look like the ‘85 Oilers in the first period as the Sens raced out to 3-0 lead.
