With 1:58 remaining in overtime Sunday night, Brad Marchand skated to collect his own rebound, misjudged Bo Horvat’s positioning, and helplessly watched as the New York Islanders forward snapped the game-winner past Jeremy Swayman. Seven seconds, just seven seconds, separated the Boston Bruins from an impressive come-from-behind victory and crushing defeat.
An outcome that largely represents how things have gone for them in 2024-25.
Boston remains winless in the New Year and 4-5-1 in their last 10. Three of their four victories came against teams who failed to qualify for the 2024 playoffs. But their most recent rough patch has come with no lack of effort to succeed.
The eyeball test will tell you the Bruins have done more than enough to earn some victories. However, they’ve also done just enough to lose them.
Take, for example, their New Year’s Eve matchup in Washington against the Capitals. Justin Brazeau opened the scoring for Boston just 1:21 in, and 26 shots later, their tally remained the same. Two days later, the New York Rangers needed just two first-period goals, scored less than three minutes apart, to secure a victory. In both contests, Jeremy Swayman surrendered just two goals, and Washington added an empty netter. This leads you to believe that while structurally, they’re sound defensively, they lack scoring touch.
Not necessarily; over the weekend, during their back-to-back losses, the Bruins produced eight goals but surrendered eleven. In both cases, they managed to tie the score in the third period, only to have two points slip between their fingers.
So if the issue isn’t defending or scoring, there’s only one outlier. Consistency. Whether it’s needing a timely goal, or keeping one out of their own net the only consistency has been inconsistency.
Earlier this year, I compared this team to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Unfortunately, the relevance hasn’t been minimized. With two months of additional hindsight, you can say with confidence the Boston Bruins are a good team, not a great one.
Narratives can always be changed, and the Bruins are presented with a tremendous opportunity to do exactly that. As of Tuesday, January 7th, nine of their next 11 games are against playoff teams, including their next five consecutive. By the time Punxsutawney Phil rises from the ground,d you’ll know exactly what kind of team they are.
Season 4. Episode 39. The Off Season – Bruins Benders Podcast
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