The Bruins’ defense was shoddy and the offense was anemic. That fatal combination led to a 5-1 loss in Winnipeg.
The Bruins left Boston on Thursday with the feeling that being on the road and away from the holiday distractions of home would help them focus on the task at hand.
That was the theory, anyway.
The reality was that the B’s played arguably their worst game of the season in Friday against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre, dropping a 5-1 decision that was as lopsided as the score indicated. The B’s now have to turn it around to face a hot Wild team in St. Paul on Friday.
Though the B’s had been much more competitive in their previous two games, both overtime losses, it was the B’s third straight loss and one that, if it came at a different point in the schedule, might precipitate a message-sending call-up from Providence.
The B’s got only token pressure on Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck when it mattered and, even then, it was of the one-and-done variety. The power outage is getting concerning. They have been held to one goal in three of their last five games. If the power outage continues much longer, the B’s may have no choice to but to take a look at prospect Georgii Merkulov, who’s been tearing it up in Providence lately.
On the other hand, the defense wasn’t all that great, either.
After being thoroughly outplayed for most opening period, it looked like the B’s might escape into the first break with a scoreless game.
