'We always find a way to beat ourselves'
The Boston Bruins were defeated 4-1 by the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Thursday night, extending their losing streak to 10 games.
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The Black and Gold played a solid first period, even outshooting the Canadiens, 8-7, in the frame, but Montreal took control of the game just 40 seconds into the second period on Christian Dvorak’s 11th goal of the season.
The Canadiens dominated the second period with two goals and a 14-0 shot advantage before the Bruins got their first shot on goal with 6:28 left in the frame.
Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov did not hold back when asked what went wrong for Boston after the first period.
“I mean everything,” he told reporters in Montreal. “We didn’t win any battles. Couldn’t leave our zone. We got one shot, two shots on net in the last five minutes of the period.
“The other teams are stronger than us. They want to win more. That’s the bottom line. We’re just not hard on the puck. We’re easy to play against. … We lost 10 in a row. I don’t think there’s a lot of things going right out there. I don’t know what the most important thing is. There’s a lot of things that are important.”
Jeremy Swayman made some key saves, including an impressive glove save on Alexandre Carrier, to keep the Bruins in the game. Swayman made 27 saves in the loss and fell to 0-7-0 in his last seven starts.
Elias Lindholm got the Bruins on the board late in the third to make it 3-1. Unfortunately for Boston, it was too little, too late.
“We always find a way to beat ourselves,” Lindholm said after the loss. “Especially now, we’ve been losing a lot and turning way too many pucks over. Sway kept us in it and gave us a good third, but there were a lot of things that went wrong.”
Like Zadorov, Lindholm offered an honest answer when questioned on what needs to happen for the Bruins to get back into the win column.
“We need a 60-minute effort,” he said. “We haven’t had that in forever, I feel like. Probably the last time we won a game, we had a good 60-minute effort.
“We played one period pretty good, and then we fell apart and get outplayed. For us to win a game right now, we need 60 minutes of good hockey.”
Here are more notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Canadiens game:
— Despite the loss in Montreal, the Bruins won the season series 2-1-0 by taking the first two games in Boston. The Black and Gold outscored the Canadiens, 12-7, in the first two contests, including a 6-3 victory in the Centennial Game on Dec. 1.
— Although not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, the Bruins would have to win their remaining six games and get help from the teams ahead of them in the standings to reach the postseason. Montreal holds the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
If the playoffs were to start tomorrow, Boston would miss the postseason for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign, and Montreal would earn a berth for the first time since the 2020-21 shortened bubble season.
— David Pastrnak had the primary assist on Lindholm’s goal, increasing his career numbers against the Canadiens to 20 goals and 22 assists in 32 games. He has 89 points (37 goals and 52 assists) in 89 games this season.
— The Bruins return home to Boston for a matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. NESN will have full coverage of all the action from TD Garden beginning at 6 p.m. ET.
