At a loss for goals, yet again, the Bruins Tuesday night also were at a loss for words to figure out how, or when, or if, they’ll find their scoring touch.
“You have to believe that … you just have to [think] …” alternate captain Charlie McAvoy said when asked following
a 2-0 loss to the Canucks if he feels things are about to turn for the struggling 10-10-3 club, “… the dam’s going to break at some point. Just hope it’s soon. We just have to keep playing the right way.”
The loss, the fourth by shutout this season, was framed by a second-period power-play goal by Bruins alum Jake DeBrusk and an empty-netter by Scituate’s Conor Garland.
Overall, not the kind of warm-and-fuzzy homecoming the Black-and-Gold hoped for this festive holiday season. It was their first loss in three games under new coach Joe Sacco, who has overseen a strong correction in defensive play but has yet to come up with an answer in how to get a tiny puck into a 24-square-foot net.
The Bruins finished with a better than 2:1 margin in shots (33-15) and a lopsided advantage in shot attempts (72-31). In their three games under Sacco (2-1-0), who took over on an interim basis last week for the dismissed Jim Montgomery, they have outshot the opposition, 93-56.
For all that, as the old hockey expression goes, the Bruins have been all but unable to put the puck in the ocean. Across the three games, they scored but three times (two of those on the power play), and tallied once at even strength across the 180 minutes.
“We did a real good job defending in front out of [our] goaltender again,” said Sacco, whose netminder Jeremy Swayman turned back 13 of the 14 shots he faced. “We just have to start burying our chances. I think we are giving ourselves a chance to compete in games now — the guys are defending hard. But offensively we have to get some guys going and find their scoring touch.”
All but two Bruins (defensemen Brandon Carlo and Parker Wotherspoon) landed at least one shot on net. Captain Brad Marchand led the way, landing six of his 12 attempts. Every skater wearing a Black-and-Gold uni attempted at least one shot, including a more shot-ready McAvoy, who squeezed off seven attempts on Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen.
Montgomery, mystified over the club’s inability to score, paid for it with his job. Sacco’s hope is the scoring will come around, eventually, maybe, hopefully, if the defense remains stout and stingy.
If it doesn’t come around, general manager Don Sweeney will have to deal for a proven scorer (rarely available before the March trade deadline) or watch his team slip out of the playoff picture for the first time since 2015-16. It’s clear that the current offense has not shown the ability to get the job done.
The Bruins are a house in desperate need of a finish carpenter. The big free agent hire up front, Elias Lindholm, has submitted D-level results for A-level compensation (seven years/$54.25 million). Elite striker David Pastrnak, without a goal in the last five games, is on a pace for 29 goals — less than half of the career-high 61 he potted two years ago.
“We’re stressing defense in here and we’re doing a great job of it,” McAvoy said. “We just can’t score.”
Ranked 31st in the league in power-play effectiveness when the night began, the Bruins again were blanked (0 for 3) on the man advantage. They’ll try to get their noses above
the .500 line again Wednesday night when they face the Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.
