BOSTON — The Boston Bruins lost to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, 4-0. The Oilers scored their fourth on an empty net.
The score could not have been more deceiving.
“We weren’t even close tonight,” Elias Lindholm said. “We were lucky we were down 3-0.”
The game was out of hand by double digits. The Oilers were playing a different sport.
“A lot of disappointment. Embarrassed. Frustration,” Lindholm said. “A lot of things.”
The numbers told part of the story. The Bruins were outshot, 38-26. David Pastrnak had only one shot after scoring two goals against the New York Islanders and pumping in two against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Oilers were expected to score 5.32 all-situations goals while allowing 2.6, per Natural Stat Trick, which signals how sharp Jeremy Swayman (35 saves) had to be.
But the eye test was a better signal of where the completely average Bruins were on Tuesday: not even in the same rink.
The Bruins allowed two net-front goals to Adam Henrique following passes from below the goal line. Swayman had no shot on either point-blanker. The goalie didn’t have a chance either on Connor McDavid’s full-speed breakaway goal on the power play.
On the other end, the hardest thing Stuart Skinner (26 saves) had to deal with was a first-period run-in with Nikita Zadorov. Skinner lost his mask in the collision. He had to leave the ice to go through concussion protocol. But Skinner returned in the second to complete one of the easiest shutouts an NHL goalie will have.
“We’ve played against some of the top teams in the league and we’ve played them well. That was not the case tonight,” interim coach Joe Sacco said. “They were certainly playing at a higher level than we were right from the drop of the puck. They won the majority of races to pucks. They were quicker than us. They won more one-on-one battles. We pretty much got what we deserved tonight.”
The Bruins are in a jam. They have lost five straight games. Their next opponents are the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers, both on the road. The Bruins have to fix their troubles promptly unless they want to tumble out of playoff contention.
The Bruins are third in the Atlantic Division with 45 points. But at this rate, it is just a matter of time before the Lightning (44 points), who have five games in hand, breeze past the Bruins.
“We have to find some solutions within our team,” Sacco said. “That’s the next step for us.”
You might find it curious that with the second-worst power play in the league (12.4 percent), Sacco has made zero changes to the No. 1 unit: Lindholm, Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Brad Marchand and Pavel Zacha. But the message is clear: Sacco has no better options.
There is no help coming. General manager Don Sweeney has little cap space to add and nobody ready down below.
The turnaround has to come from within — specifically, the Bruins’ best players. That will be a big ask.
Lindholm has been ghostly for extended stretches. McAvoy is slumping at both ends of the ice. Marchand (pointless in five of the last six games) has gone missing offensively.
“The good teams correct that and see things slipping,” Charlie Coyle said. “We need to do a better job of that and identifying that and making sure we’re doing the right things. It’s never going to be a perfect season. No team plays perfect. Every team has lulls. But we’ve got to stop the bleeding quicker here. We can’t let it seep in game after game like that with his little stretch going on right now.”
The Bruins have suffered a bit of everything during their five-game disappearance. They scored just once against the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers. They netted four goals against the Leafs and Islanders, but their defense went missing in both games.
Tuesday was just bad all around — bad enough that pockets of “Fire Sweeney” chants perked up around TD Garden during garbage time. It was the first time that happened this season.
“That’s our job at the end of the day, and we’re all getting paid for it,” Nikita Zadorov said of balancing calm and urgency. “People come and pay tickets, big bucks to watch us do that. It’s our job. There’s no excuses to find the balance.”
(Photo: Bob DeChiara / Imagn Images)
