From the top down, there was nothing for the Boston Bruins to be proud of in their lifeless effort at KeyBank Center, where they lost 7-2 to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
As soon as one thing went wrong, it wasn’t long until everything else did as well.
Even when Boston did give itself a chance, it quickly gave it away, twice surrendering a goal less than a minute after scoring one of its own.
“I didn’t like the way that we manage the game,” interim coach Joe Sacco said. “You’re going to make mistakes in hockey. That happens over the course of a game, but it’s how we respond right after those mistakes. We have to be better than that that next shift.”
Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka both had hat tricks for Buffalo. It was the first time since 2003 that two opposing players scored hat tricks against the Bruins in the same game.
Bruins Grades:
The Bruins: F
From their porous defense to their non-threatening offense, there was so much wrong with the Bruins’ performance. The most concerning aspect of all, though, was their failure to respond.
Buffalo stampeded over them and they simply took it without pushing back whatsoever.
“They came ready to play,” Brad Marchand said. “I don’t think we matched their physicality.”
Andrew Peeke/Nikita Zadorov: F
With Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, or Brandon Carlo all unavailable, the Bruins were hoping that Andrew Peeke and Nikita Zadorov would fortify their blue line.
The duo gave Buffalo clean entries off the rush all night long and finished the night a combine minus-six on the stat sheet.
“That’s the part of the game that they’re good at,” said Peeke. “They feed off that. We just didn’t execute properly or find the right spots to be in to limit their chances.”
Jeremy Swayman: D
Swayman had next to no help in front of him.
In a game where Boston was so thin on defense, the $8.25 million-a-year goalie needed to put the Bruins on his back but ended up laying down with the rest of the team and finished the night with a .813 save percentage.
“Not giving up my team a chance to win,” Swayman said when asked what disappointed him the most about his own performance. “I take pride in that every night. I could have made a couple more saves that kept the game closer, and that’s something I need to work on.”
Brad Marchand: D+
Brad Marchand scored a power-play goal for the Bruins in the third period. However, that wasn’t nearly enough to forgive his otherwise horrendous performance, as he finished the night a minus-three with two penalty minutes.
For all that Marchand did to hurt the Bruins, what he didn’t do that made the biggest difference in the game.
When no one else puts up a fight, the team captain at least should.
