Are the Bruins ready to sell? Tuesday’s loss should remove all doubt about the path forward.
"It seems like right now, any time we make a mistake, it's going to end up in the back of our net."
COMMENTARY
In a press conference on Sunday where Don Sweeney mapped out the cold reality of a Bruins team bracing for a retool, Boston’s longtime GM tried to grasp to any vestige of optimism in a season where that’s been in short supply.
“Well, it’s pretty hard to shut off the competitive nature in me, to be perfectly honest with you,” Sweeney said when asked of potentially letting go of the rope in a season where Boston is still in the hunt for a playoff spot, later adding: “They’ve got a couple games in hand.
“And a couple of games we left points on the table, going into the 4 Nations that really would have helped us in the playoff push. All those factor into it. We’re right there.”
Sure enough, the Bruins remained “right there” on Tuesday night. Just two points separate Boston from a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Of course, all it takes is a brief look under the hood to glean just how dire the Bruins’ situation is — and why the path forward for this franchise should be all but decided ahead of the March 7 trade deadline.
Yes, Boston is only two points out of the wild card. But they’re also locked in a tie with both the Senators and Rangers as far as overall points (62) — and are only three points ahead of a pair of rebuilding rosters in the Canadiens and Flyers (59).
And even though the Bruins skated off the TD Garden ice with another point secured on Tuesday — no fans in attendance (except for the ones draped in blue and white) would harp on any sort of positives drawn from a night like this.
Not on a night where the Bruins held a 3-0 lead midway through the second period — only to watch that advantage dissipate in short order to a skilled Toronto team.
Not on a night where another carless offensive-zone penalty from Oliver Wahlstrom — still skating in place of a younger prospect like Georgii Merkulov — gave the Leafs new life on a night where they struggled to find their legs.
Not on a night where a herculean effort from David Pastrnak seemingly salvaged the game for Boston — his second goal of the contest giving the Bruins a 4-3 lead with 9:27 to go in regulation — until the Leafs forced overtime with a 6-on-5 tally with 46 seconds left on the clock.
Not on a night where the Bruins coughed up a goal in the final two minutes of a period for the 25th time this season — and a whopping four times in just their last three games.
That’s not a bad bit of a puck luck — not when it’s happened 25 times in the span of just 59 games.
“It seems like right now, any time we make a mistake, it’s going to end up in the back of our net,” Brad Marchand said after Boston’s eventual 5-4 overtime loss to Toronto.
No, the 2024-25 Bruins just are what they are: a middling bubble team currently trying to stay afloat — with an ineffective, underperforming roster weighing them down.
“We were able to take the lead, so that’s more frustrating — being up 3-0. I think, yes, it sounds like we should win the game, but that’s a really high-skilled team on the other end,” Pastrnak said. “So the team is going to come back.
“The more frustrating [thing], I think — we retake the lead, 4-3, and we still weren’t able to close. So it’s probably more those last 13 minutes. But yeah, it’s tough to have that second point and leave it hanging on the table and let them grab it.”
If there were any silver linings drawn from a game like Tuesday, Sweeney and his staff’s decisions moving forward should be resolute.
With Mitch Marner beating Jeremy Swayman with just 52 seconds left in overtime on Tuesday, the Bruins have now dropped four games in a row dating back to Feb. 5.
Boston’s minus-27 goal differential is the second-worst mark in the entire Eastern Conference. A late-season lift provided by Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm is unfortunately no longer tenable.
If Sweeney’s candid comments on Sunday breathed life into a reality where the Bruins sell off pieces — Tuesday’s embarrassing showing should remove all doubt about what this team needs to do before March 7.
“Our job is to focus on the hockey game and winning hockey games for this club. You can’t look at the [big] picture, we are players and management is management,” Pastrnak said of the nerves that set in before the deadline. “They do their job and we’re doing ours. These times around the trade deadline are never fun. That’s the business side of it.”
It’s time for Sweeney and Co. to get to work.
Because this Bruins team’s efforts to try and stem the tide is a failed endeavor — and one that unfortunately is a waste of time for all involved.
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