The Boston Bruins look to bounce back from a difficult start to their five-game Western Conference swing in a Saturday night game against the Canucks in Vancouver.
A four-game win streak and 7-2-0 start under interim head coach Joe Sacco are now well in Boston’s rearview after being bested by a combined 13-2 score across losses at Winnipeg (8-1) and Seattle (5-1) since hitting the road earlier this week.
Penalty trouble doomed the Bruins at the start of Thursday’s loss in Seattle, and despite a 34-21 advantage in shots, captain Brad Marchand scored the lone goal on a second-period penalty shot.
Sacco was not completely discouraged with his team’s offensive effort, though the Kraken’s three-goal third period put the game out of reach.
“After the first six minutes of the game where we were short-handed (three times), I thought our 5-on-5 game started to come around,” Sacco said. “We generated, we had some opportunities, we had some looks. It just didn’t go in the back of the net for us (Thursday).”
On top of a second straight third-period collapse — after Winnipeg scored five in Tuesday’s final frame — Boston lost center Elias Lindholm to an upper-body injury about halfway through the game. There was no update on his status before the team had Friday off from practice.
It is time to move on, so as the Bruins continue their trip in Vancouver followed by Calgary and Edmonton, Marchand knows that tightening up on the defensive end will be important.
“If you give up five goals, I guess that it’s a positive … to say we got a lot of shots and more opportunities (than Seattle),” Marchand said. “But they had a lot of Grade-A (chances) … and again, we can’t give up that many goals. It definitely doesn’t make me feel better about the game.”
Marchand is riding a five-game point streak (four goals, two assists).
The Bruins had a 6-5-1 road record before starting this trip with two losses, but they can get back to .500 against a Canucks team that is 10-2-1 away from Vancouver and only 5-6-4 at home.
Of late, Vancouver is 6-2-2 in its last 10 after stopping a modest two-game skid (0-1-1) with a 4-0 Thursday win over the Florida Panthers. Not only did Kevin Lankinen make 27 saves en route to his third shutout this season, but the team-wide effort sat well with coach Rick Tocchet.
“It was a game where everybody contributed,” Tocchet said. “Good team identity. A lot of good efforts from a lot of different guys, a lot of different lines. I thought the defensemen were scrappy, and obviously âLanks’ had a great game. So, it’s a start in the right direction for building that team identity.”
Former Bruins Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk, along with Brock Boeser (500th NHL game) and defenseman Carson Soucy (first of the season) scored for the Canucks. DeBrusk has netted a league-leading seven of his 14 goals since Dec. 1.
DeBrusk, who signed a seven-year contract with Vancouver in July after spending his first seven NHL seasons in Boston, netted the game-winner in his Nov. 26 return to TD Garden. The goal set the table for Lankinen’s most recent shutout prior to Thursday.
A game after goaltender Thatcher Demko’s first start since suffering a knee injury during the playoffs last spring, Thursday’s return of both alternate captain J.T. Miller (personal leave) and another former Bruin in defenseman Derek Forbort (lower-body injury) also boosted Vancouver. Miller registered two assists.
“(Miller) brings so much, so many different angles, what he does for our lineup, balancing it out, and what he does for the room with his leadership and his presence,” defenseman Tyler Myers said.
