I said I was going to be more positive in writing these recaps than my grandfather was with
the Celtics… but after 6 losses in a row my patience is up. So here we go. This was simply a brutal attempt at trying to win a hockey game. Korpisalo’s weakest performance of the season, but that was just a small piece of this loss, as more importantly the defensive zone is a nightmare. I don’t want to get on Marco Sturm’s case this early into his tenure, but I really do hope he just witnessed what I did. His man-on-man structure in the D-zone is woefully ineffective to say the least. The Bruins gave up at least 4 goals in this game from simple d-zone break downs. One small, legal, pick play from the opposing team and it’s an automatic goal. The players are completely lost chasing around pucks and opposing players around the zone with no clue where the puck is. One bad bounce is bad luck, they’ve had about 15 bad bounces off skates, asses, shin pads, and sticks in the last 6 games because nobody knows where the puck is, including the goalies. Blow it up, start over with a new defensive zone structure that is simpler and more reliable than whatever this experiment was because I haven’t seen an NHL team so consistently incompetent in their defensive zone. Which leads me to my next point…

I’m about done with the Mason Lohrei experience. The NHL Masters winner last season
with a -42, you would think improving defensively would be at the top of his list, but he’s
simply unbearable to watch on the back end. From what I’ve seen with Jordan Harris (who’s
unfortunately on IR with injury) and even Michael Callahan, I’m ready to see Lohrei traded
to some other place who doesn’t care whether he can play defense and is willing to give us
a draft pick or two. Everyone says, “his offensive upside is worth it.” No, it’s not, and worse
it’s a hinderance to the team’s best defenseman in McAvoy who needs freedom to roam
the ice and cheat offensively to help with the lack of scoring prowess, instead he’s worrying
about covering for Lohrei. AHL or trade for #6, bear minimum split him and McAvoy up.
Now to the offense. I can’t complain about not scoring enough when they score 5 which
should be plenty to win hockey games these days. My biggest criticism is the play after they
score. How many times in this young season have the Bruins fought to get ahead or tie a
game only to give one up within the next 2 minutes? Can’t win like that. They can’t seem to
score the next goal, the one that gets the to a 2-goal lead, and worse they just give one up. A shame because we can’t celebrate Nikita Zadorov’s best play as a member of the Bruins
last night in his effort to setup Morgan Geekie for the late tie goal at 5-5, because 30
seconds later the Ducks scored to go ahead again.

There is no such thing in pressing the panic button on this team, let’s be honest the panic
button was pressed before the puck dropped on night one with the roster they rolled out, but at the very least I want to see growth from game to game and even that is apparently
asking too much.

Side Note: The Ducks are up there for best uniform since the return of the old Mighty Duck logo.

Next up is the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday at 3pm ET. I’m blacked out down here in NC
from watching this game as it will be on NHL Network, and I’ll be on the golf course
anyways, which is better for my sanity and mental health. Next recap will follow the Ottawa
game on Monday night.