Another game with no scoring for the Bruins.
Playing on the back end of a back-to-back without some key players, the Boston Bruins were up against it before the puck dropped at Minnesota Sunday afternoon. Already without Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy, the Bruins took the ice without captain Brad Marchand who was lost in the first period of Saturday's 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Minnesota was waiting for the Black and Gold in their own hometown after a loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night, but they entered the game on a three-game losing streak. It wasn't a great game to watch at times, but the Wild scored the one goal needed to win and the loss was another example of why the Boston Bruins will miss the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Bruins kryptonite strikes in shutout loss to Wild
Over the last couple of seasons, the Bruins have had their share of secondary scoring which has led them to the postseason. In fact, secondary scoring beyond the last two years was something that Boston fans could count on. That hasn't been the case this season.
For the first time in 17 games, David Pastrnak did not record a point and you can't record a point if your team is shut out. That was the case as Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson stopped all 28 shots the Black and Gold fired at him. The case can be made that there were not a lot of high-danger chances on him, but regardless, he stopped everything to frustrate the Bruins.
The issue that the Bruins are having recently and really, all season long, is if Pastrnak doesn't score, they are in trouble. Morgan Geekie already has a career-high in goals, but still, someone else, anyone else, needs to step in and produce secondary scoring. Boston is just not a good enough team to win high-scoring games or low-scoring games. They did against Pittsburgh, but that was because Joonas Korpisalo stood on his head.
This roster that was put together by GM Don Sweeney was flawed and flawed bigtime. Because of that, they'll be selling some pieces off at Friday's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline. Just how much he sells remains to be seen, but we are not looking at a full-blown rebuild, but more of a retool.
There is a lot of work to do between now and Friday, then there is a lot of work to do once the regular season ends on April 15 against the New Jersey Devils. Right now, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings have passed the Bruins and so have the Ottawa Senators with former Boston goalie Linus Ullmark. That's a deal that might come back and bite Sweeney, sending Ullmark within the division.
Regardless of what happens over the final 20 or so games, this Bruins roster is flawed with no secondary scoring and as we saw on Sunday afternoon, the kryptonite once again cost them points in the 2024-25 season.
