Stars Goal #1 – Matt Duchene is allowed to skate into an empty space the size of Texas in the right circle. Freddy does chase but lacks the speed to get there before Duchene is able to receive and shoot.
Goal #4 – Pasta misreads a play and completely wrong-foots himself, allowing Oskar Back to get open unopposed in the low slot. Zadorov arguably doesn’t play this very well either, and Back scores.
Goal #5 – Lightning McQueen Evgenii Dadonov simply skates away from Zacha and his pathetic attempt at a stick check, and scores unmarked.
Goal #6 – Roope Hintz casually wanders into the low slot and out-muscles the bigger Carlo and Lohrei. Chip in past Sway.
Goal #7 – Keystone cops. Carlo in no-man's land. At least the game was well and truly gone by this point.
Four entirely preventable goals and one gong show caused by poor coverage, lack of effort and sheer doddle-headed failure to do the basics. Topped off by Sway playing deep and timid in most cases, although he is not the main problem. Unacceptable stuff in college hockey, let alone in the NHL. Bad tactics and lack of personnel are one thing, sheer carelessness and insipidity quite another.
The Bruins are now 3-6-1 or thereabouts against playoff contenders, depending on who exactly you count, and 26-44 on the scoresheet. Not good enough, not even close. The roster is flawed, the coaching is sub-standard, but the performance of the players is worst of all. The season is far from a lost cause because the east is so thoroughly mediocre. But if management have any actual ambitions beyond merely earning a few more one and done playoff dollars, they're not going to get there just by making the usual one or two deadline adds. Bigger and deeper change is needed. Time for Sweeney to start earning his $$$ and make some hard decisions.