St. Louis has faced many of the same early-season struggles as the Bruins, coming into the week at 7-8.
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It‘s one thing for a hockey team to struggle to score. It‘s another for one to struggle to shoot, which the Bruins pointedly did in Saturday night’s overtime loss to the Senators at TD Garden.
Boston, which led, 2-1, at the game’s midpoint, put just one shot on net in the final 25 minutes. It led to some terse postgame talk from coach Jim Montgomery, whose team is a middle-of-the-road 7-7-2.
“We just weren’t good enough,” he told reporters when asked what was keeping his team from heeding his guidance. “You guys can write what the malaise is on the team and what’s gone wrong. We’re just not playing good enough.”
With that, the Bruins hit the road for a brief two-game road trip, beginning on Tuesday night in St. Louis against the Blues.
St. Louis has faced many of the same early-season struggles as the Bruins, coming into the week at 7-8. Tuesday’s game wraps a five-game homestand that began with back-to-back wins but crashed in back-to-back losses, the most recent an 8-1 thrashing by the Capitals on Saturday night.
Jordan Binnington was in the St. Louis net for all eight tallies, which came on only 27 shots. Washington scored the game’s final seven, including five in the third period.
“It’s completely unacceptable. It’s just not right. I don’t think that should ever happen, a situation like that,” defenseman Justin Faulk told reporters. “We need to have respect for each other, the game. You can’t just go out there and play summer hockey for a period and think that’s alright at any point. We’re grown men in this league and need to put in an effort that’s acceptable.”
Notes: The Blues are playing without top center Robert Thomas (broken ankle), plus top-four defensemen Philip Broberg and Nick Leddy (both sidelined by lower-body injuries) . . . Tuesday‘s game is a meeting of two of the league’s four-worst power plays, but while the Bruins lead the league with 64 power-play opportunities, the Blues are tied for last in the NHL with 37 . . . The Blues are allowing the sixth-most goals per game (3.47), with Binnington’s .886 goals-against average third-worst among goalies with at least 10 starts.