There are several players underperforming during the Boston Bruins’ six-game skid, but Brad Marchand isn’t one of them.
The 26-year-old right winger opened the scoring in the first period of Friday night’s 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues with his 17th goal of the season. He’s now one goal ahead of linemate Patrice Bergeron for the team lead.
His line, which also included Reilly Smith and Bergeron, had a plus-8 shot attempt differential at even strength. Marchand led the trio with three shots.
Marchand has a three-game point streak with four points (two goals, two assists) and 18 shots in the last five games.
— Bruins goaltender Malcolm Subban made his NHL debut and was pulled at the 5:09 mark of the second period after giving up three goals on six shots. B’s head coach Claude Julien put Subban back in the net for the final five-plus minutes of the third period with the Blues leading 5-1.
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— In what has become a common theme for the Bruins this season, they outshot their opponent and still couldn’t find a way to score enough goals. Boston had a 27-15 edge in shots on goal and a 59-40 advantage in shot attempts, but its only goal was the result of Blues goalie Jake Allen mishandling a Marchand shot with his glove.
— Milan Lucic tallied zero shots despite playing 15:07 (1:54 on the power play). He’s scoreless in his last four games and hasn’t tallied a goal in his last seven games. Carl Soderberg also had zero shots in 19:57 of ice time. His goalless drought was extended to 12 games.
— David Krejci left the game in the second period after a nasty collision with Blues forward Alexander Steen. He needed help walking down the tunnel and didn’t return to the game. The Bruins announced that Krejci will travel to Chicago for Sunday afternoon’s matchup with the Blackhawks, which is encouraging.
— Bruins winger Brian Ferlin also made his NHL debut. He tallied zero shots, three hits and one takeaway in 10:33 of ice time on the fourth line alongside Gregory Campbell and Jordan Caron.
— The Bruins were 0-for-5 on the power play and are 1-for-11 with the man advantage through the first four games of this road trip.
— Blues forward Petteri Lindbohm scored his first career NHL goal just 48 seconds into the second period.
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— Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo scored his first goal in 23 games during the second period that gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead. He also led St. Louis in ice time (23:12) and blocked shots (four).
— Blues forward Alexander Steen led all players with three points (all assists). He now has a career-high 32 assists.
Thumbnail photo via Billy Hurst/USA TODAY Sports Images
