BOSTON — Put simply, the Boston Bruins laid an egg Thursday night.
They welcomed the New Jersey Devils to TD Garden on Thursday night, ultimately losing 5-2 to a team that entered the game with a share of last place in the NHL.
Maybe it was too much spiked eggnog the past few days, or it could be getting used to having pretty much everyone back and healthy. Either way, by no means were the Bruins playing a team they were outmatched against.
Boston delivered a sluggish and uninspired performance wire-to-wire, from the opening goal the Devils scored just 25 seconds into the game to Blake Coleman’s game-sealing empty-netter with 48 seconds left.
While a potential excuse could be the Bruins having a three-day layoff for Christmas, that’s hardly valid as that’s a league-wide mandate and the Devils were going through the same thing. So appropriately, head coach Bruce Cassidy and his team weren’t leaning on that after the ugly loss.
“Well, the mental part of (the break) is good I think,” Cassidy said. “It’s a grind of a season, so to be able to be away and generally with your family and enjoying Christmas is a good kind of, get your brain off of hockey. Some of the guys may have found a bike or gone for a jog, something small, but I don’t think anybody skated. But I think both teams are in the same boat. I’m sure it affects you. Your legs are probably a little heavier early on because of that. You’re so routine oriented, but I don’t want to use it as an excuse because, like I said, they had the same break. And they looked like their legs were fine.”
Added Bergeron, “Well, you know, they had the same layoff, you know, and they were coming out hard, they had to travel and we didn’t so no excuses there. Obviously it’s on us, you know, those three days you’re supposed to make the most of it, but obviously be a professional about it, you know, I don’t think that should be a question. I think, but bottom line we didn’t respond the way that we wanted to and especially after the loss in Carolina we wanted to bounce back and we definitely didn’t do it.”
Defenseman John Moore was far more terse than Bergeron and Cassidy, but his point was effective.
“We’re professionals, you can’t use that as an excuse. You got to be ready, so we’ll address that tomorrow in practice.”
And while goaltender Jaroslav Halak hadn’t played since Saturday’s win over the Nashville Predators, he too echoed the rest of his team’s sentiments.
“You know, I think it’s the same thing for everybody,” Halak said, “you just try to focus stopping the puck and obviously like you said the first one went in and that’s not a good start for anyone.”
The Bruins will get back in action Saturday against a far better Buffalo Sabres team, so suffice to say they have a few things to iron out in practice Friday.
