Boston Bruins

Bruins Take Extended Holiday Break in Loss To Blue Jackets

Published

3 weeks ago

December 27, 2024

AP Photo/Jay LaPrete

For as good as the Boston Bruins looked in their final game heading into the Christmas break, they looked equally as bad in their first game out of it.

The Bruins had a heavy holiday hangover against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night at Nationwide Arena, where they allowed four goals in a horrendous second period en route to a 6-2 loss.

With the score tied 1-1 following the first period, the Blue Jackets scored three times in just under three minutes during the middle frame to bury the Bruins.

After they cleared the puck at the end of a lengthy defensive zone shift, a poorly executed line change by the Bruisn left the middle of the ice wide open for Adam Fantilli to come off the Columbus bench and score on a breakaway to put the Blue Jackets ahead.

Sean Monahan added to the score 1:13 later with his second of two goals in the game before a slashing penalty by Bruins defense Charlie McAvoy gave Dmitri Voronkov the opportunity to stretch the lead to 4-1.

Just when it felt that it couldn’t get any worse for the Bruins, another McAovy penalty led to yet another Voronkov power-play goal that made it 5-1 Columbus in the final minute of the period.

“We weren’t sharp tonight. I wasn’t sharp tonight,” McAvoy said to reporters in Columbus. “You can try and make excuses for stuff, but no one really cares.”

The Bruins’ penalty kill had no resistance as they surrendered a goal in all three of their shorthanded situations in the game.

Monahan started the scoring for Columbus with a power-play goal at 11:29 of the first period by taking a whack at a loose puck and causing it to pop up over the head of Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo and tumble down behind him into the back of the net.

Pavel Zacha knotted the score for the Bruins a few minutes later, scoring off an assist from David Pastrnak for his ninth goal of the season. But even though the score was tied, the Blue Jackets had a clear advantage.

Neither team had its legs to start, but the Bruins never found theirs at all.

The pace, execution, and physicality that made them so effective late in their game on Monday against the Capitals were completely absent three days later.

“I thought Columbus played well tonight,” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said. “I thought they outplayed us. They deserved what they got here. They were the better team, so the three-day break didn’t have as much of a toll on them as it did on us.”

Aside from their dominance on special teams, Columbus controlled the game at even strength as well. The Blue Jackets consistently pushed to the front of the Bruins’ net with ease and had a 31-18 edge in scoring chances in the game at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Even when the game was already out of reach early in the third period, Kirill Marchenko put another goal on the board for the Blue Jackets by burying a rebound past Korpisalo.

Throughout his first year in Boston, Korpisalo has been a reliable and steady presence in nearly every game he’s started. He, however, could not rely on the team in front of him on Friday as the Bruins hung him out to dry to finish the night with 27 saves on 33 shots.

“I don’t think we had our A-game today,” said Korpisalo. “It’s just being better overall, in every way, all of us, me included.”

Charlie Coyle beat Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins off the rush at 4:08 of the third for his 10th goal of the season and third in as many games. Brad Marchand had an assist on the play to extend his point streak to 11 games.

While the goal did make the score look a little bit more respectable for the Bruins, it did not mitigate their overall sluggish effort.

“They were ready to play, and we weren’t,” Coyle said, “It’s just unacceptable.”

The Bruins have less than 24 hours to get ready for their next game, as they’ll meet the Blue Jackets once again Saturday night at TD Garden.