Bruins Game Grades: More Bad Than Good From Lohrei

The Boston Bruins lost their sixth straight game Thursday night at Amalie Arena, falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1.

Boston played a solid 54 minutes, but a six-minute window in the second period was all that Tampa needed to win the game.

“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot time and time again,” Morgan Geekie told reporters in Tampa. “I feel like lots of these mistakes are of self-[inflicted]. We got to figure it out in this room, and we got guys that can do that. I believe in each and every one of the guys in this room. Our coaching staff is giving us all the tools and systems, and it’s on us to execute. That’s what we haven’t been doing. We’ve got to learn to build our game from the start of the first puck drop and play a full 60.”

The Bruins have now dropped seven of their last eight games since the holiday break. They are yet to win in 2025 and have dropped to the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference after collecting only one point over this dreadful stretch.

At some point, a good performance that wasn’t good enough is simply not good enough.

Game Grades:

The Bruins: C-

After ending the first period cautiously optimistic, two bad goals in the second period pretty much erased all hope for the Bruins.

“We give up a shorthand goal, and that certainly takes a lot of wind out of your sail,” Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco said. “But we’re still in the game. It’s only 1-0, and then we give up one in the last minute in the period. That’s not a good recipe for success. Those goals, they are pretty much gift goals.”

Outside of those few minutes in the middle frame, the Bruins played about as well as you could’ve asked them to.

Mason Lohrei: C –

Mason Lohrei used the poise and patience of a player beyond his years to score a goal.

Mase was movin' 👌 pic.twitter.com/bYG8jwtZM9

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 10, 2025

However, his mistake earlier on showed just how much more the young defenseman has to learn.

With the Bruins already trailing, Lohrei left too much space between himself and Michael Eyssimont as he skated backward into the defensive end, leaving the Lightning forward plenty of room to fire a shot off the rush that made it 2-0 Tampa.

Finished the period with a beauty 👀 pic.twitter.com/IyX9QdVauh

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) January 10, 2025

“I just saw numbers coming at me, so I tried to take away the pass,” said Lohrei. “That’s about it.”

Lohrei finished the night a minus-two with one shot on goal in 18:47 seconds of ice time.

Jeremy Swayman: A-

Jeremy Swayman may have finally reached the level he and the Bruins were hoping he’d be at when they agreed to an eight-year contract extension over the summer. He was once again square to and rarely looked surprised whenever one came his way, making 27 saves on 30 shots.

Penalty Kill: A

Swayman received a ton of help early on from the Bruins’ penalty kill.

Boston was forced to play shorthanded twice in the first period, but with a measured and patient approach, held the league’s fourth-best power play in check to keep the game scoreless at them end of 20 minutes.

The Bruins ended the night three-for-four on the kill. The only power play goal Tampa scored came with less than a minute to go in the game.

Power Play: F

As for Boston’s other special teams unit, the power play continues to find new and exciting ways to look more incompetent.

In a scoreless tie midway through the second period, the Bruins had the chance to score the game’s first goal when Victor Hedman was called for an interference penalty. But even without Tampa’s best penalty killer on the ice, the Bruins couldn’t score, and instead, they gave up a goal.

Cleanin' up 👏 pic.twitter.com/WJcdl7uvaW

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) January 10, 2025

Branden Hagel’s initial attempt by Swayman, but without any Bruins defending on the backcheck, the Boston netminder had no chance of stopping Anthony Cirelli’s shot off the rebound that put the Bolts on the board.

David Pastrnak: D +

David Pastrnak was the one who committed the turnover that led to Tampa’s shorthanded goal.

As he tried to enter the zone, Pastrnak thought it’d be a good idea to try and weave through three defenders all on his own and quickly learned that it was not.

Pastrnak led the Bruins with five shots on goal but none from high-danger areas. He skated 19:20 of time on ice and was a minus-two.

Brad Marchand – Elias Lindholm – Charlie Coyle: B

Brad Marchand, Elias Lindholm, and Charlie Coyle have had an up-and-down run together ever since they were assembled as a line a few weeks ago. In some games, they’re all over the ice, and in others, they’re completely invisible.

This was a night when they made an impact. Albeit not enough of one to help the Bruins win, however, their effort in the third period energized the rest of the team when no one else would.

In 11:04 of ice time together at even strength, the trio dominated puck possession and had a 10-3 advantage in scoring chances.

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