The Bruins are back home with little time to exhale after a road trip that went sideways fast. Boston dropped both games away from home, starting with a 2-1 loss to Carolina on Tuesday and following it up with a 4-1 defeat to the St.
Louis Blues on Thursday night. James Hagens scored the Bruins’ only goal, and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots in the loss.
Marco Sturm didn’t sugarcoat anything afterward. He called the performance “unacceptable,” and said the Blues didn’t do anything special in his view.
The special teams, though, were the swing point. Boston went 0-for-2 on the power play and 1-for-3 on the penalty kill, and Sturm said that “just totally changed our momentum.”
The Bruins did play better over the final 20 minutes, but he wasn’t taking comfort in that after a flat night in Missouri.
Boston is now 9-4-1 and heads into a two-game homestand that starts tomorrow afternoon. The Bruins are set to practice this morning at 11:00 AM in Brighton, and they will not have a morning skate before tomorrow’s game.
Around the league, the biggest storyline came out of Detroit, where Dylan Larkin appears to be on the way out. The Red Wings did not have him at morning skate, and interim GM Shawn Horcoff announced that Larkin has been suspended without pay. Horcoff said he is trying to get the best return for the team and is open to “all different kinds of deals.”
Pat Brisson, Larkin’s agent, released this statement about his client deciding not to play while waiting on a trade:
“Dylan’s had enough of the situation. We believe he’s been very professional and cooperative through this process.”
Larkin’s trade list remains at 10 teams: the Hurricanes, Avalanche, Stars, Panthers, Wild, Devils, Lightning, Mammoth, Golden Knights, and Capitals. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported that the Wild have “one of the stronger offers” among those teams, and she also had updates on the three clubs outside the list that are showing interest: the Canadiens, Sabres, and Bruins.
There was also the matter of the financial hit. He’ll forfeit $41,000 per day.
In Philadelphia, the Flyers are dealing with a rough start and some hard truths. They’ve played 15 games, captain Sean Couturier said on Wednesday night that the team is soft, and Danny Briere’s attempt to jolt the roster by signing Michael Bunting hasn’t moved the needle yet - Bunting is already in the press box. Will James wrote that the Flyers need a reality check and examined where they go from here.
New Jersey’s four-game win streak came to an end in Colorado, even though the Devils are still 8-5-0 through 13 games. James Nichols broke down the concern level around the power play, penalty kill, goaltending, and Timo Meier.
Pittsburgh delivered the night’s wildest finish. Ben Kindel scored in his first game back to put the Penguins ahead 3-2 with 25 seconds left, but Logan Cooley tied it with one second remaining, then Mikhail Sergachev ended it in overtime. Dan Kingerski handled the Xs and Os and the report card.
And in Edmonton, there’s a size-and-toughness conversation brewing. Sportsnet reported that Mike Babcock wants more of both in the Oilers’ forward group, and Frank Seravalli said Matt Rempe is a player he likes. Rempe has appeared in just two games this season.
B/R Open Ice also noted Hayden Hodgson and Brandt Clarke, who were teammates in Ontario during the 2023-24 season with Marco Sturm behind the bench.
In Other News...
James Hagens Is Giving Bruins Fans A Reason To Dream Bigger
James Hagens keeps giving Bruins fans a little more reason to look past the frustration of a lopsided night. Against the Blues, the rookie opened the scoring with his fifth goal of the season, a marker that underscored just how quickly he has become part of Bostons conversation even as the team continues to search for more consistency around him.
The goal only sharpened the contrast in a 4-1 loss, with the Bruins outshooting St. Louis but still watching the game swing the other way on four unanswered goals and two power-play finishes. Hagens early production is starting to stand out for a club trying to build something sturdier, and the pace he is setting has already put him in some notable company. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins May Have Found The Elias Lindholm Fit They Needed
Elias Lindholm opened the season as the Bruins first-line center, but the fit never quite looked right in that spot. After moving down to the third line, he has settled into a role that suits him better, giving Boston the sort of reliable two-way presence it hoped it was getting when it brought him in. The early noise around his contract and his place in the lineup has quieted some as his impact has grown in a more defined role.
What has stood out most is how useful Lindholm has become away from the puck, especially on the penalty kill, where his attention to detail and versatility have helped the Bruins in meaningful minutes. He may not be the headline center Boston envisioned back in the fall, but he has become a useful piece in a way that matters for a team trying to maximize every spot down the middle. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Top Six Is Putting Marco Sturm In A Tough Spot
James Hagens, Elias Lindholm and Casey Mittelstadt have quietly given the Bruins something to lean on lately. The third line has been one of the more productive groups on the ice at 5-on-5, and it has done that work without the usual benefit of favorable zone starts. In a stretch where Boston has been searching for more consistent offense, that kind of dependability from a depth unit has stood out.
It leaves Marco Sturm with a difficult balancing act ahead of the matchup with the Blackhawks. The top six has not been driving play the way the Bruins need, and some of the recent combinations have looked less effective than hoped. With the bottom six offering more pop than expected, Sturm is weighing whether a tweak up front could help jump-start a group that still has more to give. [Read more 🡒]