There Is No Other Way to Put It: Your Boston Bruins Are Mired in a Bit of a Funk Right Now

No matter how good your team is in the NHL, at some point in the slog of an 82-game regular season, you are going to run into some speed bumps along the way. The Bruins (24-8-11) are clearly not themselves at the moment as they dropped a rather lifeless 4-1 decision to the Oilers (22-17-5) this afternoon at TD Garden that didn't even feel that close. Make no mistake, Boston had 36 shots on goal not to mention 63 shot attempts overall and yet they could only beat journeyman goaltender Mike Smith (35 saves, 8-9-2 this season and he improved to 5-13 all-time vs. the Bruins in his forgettable career) just one single time. Somehow, it was only their second loss in regulation at home this season and you have to say that it had to be one of their sloppiest efforts-namely countless missed passes and shots right at Smith-of 2019-20.

With a 1 p.m. EST start time, you figured that would have to favor the Bruins who accordingly struck first at 3:10 of the first period. David Pastrnak's shot was perfectly redirected by Edmonton defenseman Kris Russell for Pasta's NHL-leading 31st goal of the season. Torey Krug (1 goal, 7 assists in his last 7 games) and Brad Marchand (2 goals, 7 assists in his last 6 games) had the helpers as David extended his point streak to 10 games (5 goals, 10 assists). He is the only player in the league so far in this campaign to have multiple double-digit point streaks. It was also the 10th straight game with a power play goal for Boston (12 for 39 in that span), their longest stretch since March 7-27, 1996.

Jaroslav Halak (22 saves, 9-4-5) got the start for the Bruins and at least initially he seemed sharp as he made a diving save on a one-timer from Oilers superstar Connor McDavid (fed by his fellow stud Leon Draisaitl) late in the first period. Boston was up 1-0 after the first but they trailed 2-1 after the second as they gave up a pair of absolutely atrocious goals. First, Jake DeBrusk completely whiffed on a clearing pass deep in his own end leading to a breakaway and goal by something called Gaetan Haas (his 4th of the season) at 7:41. If that wasn't gross enough, Halak topped it by allowing a nothing shot on goal by Darnell Nurse squeeze past him (hugging the post, quite ineffectively as it turned out) with only 6.3 seconds left in the frame.

This was a strength on strength battle in terms of special teams as Boston came in with the No. 3 ranked power play and No. 2 penalty kill in the league while Edmonton's power play is the best and their penalty kill is No. 4. That's part of what made this such a bitter loss since Boston's penalty kill unit extended their successful streak to 23 for 23 dating back eight games (Dec. 17 vs. LA). Smith continued to make big saves and McDavid put it away for all intents and purposes early in the third. Goon Zack Kassian-who gets the honor of being on McDavid's line-spun around and hit him wide open from the slot where the best player in the world rarely fails to convert. McDavid's 23rd goal of the season came at 1:48 and it was also assisted by Ethan Bear.

The Bruins dominated in the third, outshooting the Oilers 21-7 but as Claude Julien's underachieving teams always taught us: shots on goal can be a very misleading statistic. Par Lindholm was wide open in the slot but he failed to shoot the puck past Smith, mostly because he stinks (witness his 0-for-6 goose egg on face-offs). Edmonton missed an early empty-netter but Draisaitl put a bow on it with an empty-net goal with nine seconds left in regulation. Every garbage time point means something when you're in the heart of a scoring race. His 24th goal of the season was unassisted and it was soon followed by rare (but totally deserved) boos by the Garden faithful that stuck around to the end. If there hadn't been so many kids here it probably would have been even louder in terms of the booing but I'm sure that the B's got the message.

Matt Grzelcyk was a late scratch for the Bruins with an illness but other than that, it was basically a full lineup (Connor Clifton remains out with an injury) for the home team. Since New Year's Eve, they are 0-1-2 against three blah teams (Devils, Blue Jackets and Oilers) and they have scored four total goals in that time frame. Boston won't practice tomorrow so they'll be back at Warrior Ice Arena on Monday morning before traveling to Nashville that day. They play the Predators (18-15-6) on Tuesday (8, NESN) with a chance to avenge Nashville's 4-3 overtime win here on Dec. 21.

The Predators are a bit of a mess themselves (4-5-1 in their last 10 games) after blowing a 2-0 lead vs. Dallas (24-14-4) in the Winter Classic and their outstanding defenseman Ryan Ellis is on IR with a concussion suffered on a dirty hit by Corey Perry (suspended 5 games for it) in that loss. Regardless, Bridgestone Arena is a tough place to play (Preds are 10-7-4 there this season) and Nashville is desperate for a spark to turn things around before they slip too far down in the Western Conference standings. Boston returns home on Thursday (7, NESN) to face old friend Blake Wheeler, UMass-Lowell's Connor Hellebuyck-one of the top goalies in the NHL-and Winnipeg (22-16-4)-another fringe playoff team on the outside looking in at this very second after losing 3-2 in overtime this afternoon in Minnesota (20-17-5).

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