Bo Horvat scored on a breakaway 3:10 into the extra session to hand Boston its fourth straight defeat.
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With wins increasingly hard to manufacture, the Bruins nipped at the edges of one Sunday night, came within a Brad Marchand overtime slapper of putting away 2 points, only to be sent skittering down Causeway Street six seconds later on Bo Horvat’s breakaway goal that handed the Islanders a 5-4 OT win over the beleaguered Black and Gold.
Meet the midseason 2024-25 Bruins: Team Sisyphus, each night pushing the puck uphill, only to be crushed by the 6 ounces of vulcanized rubber. It was their season-high fourth consecutive loss (0-3-1), and it snapped their six-game winning streak on home ice.
“I look at it half-full, considering the circumstance tonight,” mused coach Joe Sacco, his club without a win since a 4-0 whitewashing of the Blue Jackets on Dec. 28, “and being down a couple of goals (twice) and fighting back in the third. It’s a sign of resilience. We would have liked to capture that extra point in OT, but … ”
In their four losses, beginning New Year’s Eve in Washington, the Bruins held but two brief leads — for 10:44 against the Capitals, and then only 21 seconds vs. the Islanders Sunday.
Otherwise, the Bruins chased, chased, and chased their opponents. The Capitals, Rangers, Maple Leafs, and Islanders amassed 190:33 lead time in the four games. Fighting uphill, with down results.
“I’ve said before, you don’t want to play catch-up hockey — it’s hard in this league,” said Sacco, first noting that Cole Koepke provided the Bruins with the oh-so-brief lead in the first. “It’s a very difficult thing to do.”
Behind by a goal after two periods, the Bruins fell behind, 4-2, early in the third on Anders Lee’s second goal of the night, before David Pastrnak struck for a pair to knot it, 4-4.
Pastrnak also scored a pair the night before in the 6-4 loss in Toronto. If there is a way out of their malaise, it looks like it will have to be at the working end of No. 88’s stick, which was uncharacteristically cold in the first half of the season.
Nothing better defines a struggling power play — a bugaboo for the Bruins all season — than a power play that plays directly into the opposition’s hands. The Bruins are now a woeful 0-for-10 on the man advantage across the last six games.
