BOSTON — You wouldn’t know the Boston Bruins are the NHL’s best team if you watched them for the first time Tuesday night.
A largely lackluster effort from the Bruins resulted in a 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames at TD Garden. Too often the Bruins were too cute with the puck or careless in the defensive zone, and they paid the price accordingly.
Chalk some of it up to the fact that they just returned from a long road trip that had them journeying across Western Canada. But seeing as they got their doors blown off by the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday in the finale of the road trip, one would think the Bruins’ might’ve come out a bit more inspired in their return to Boston.
Not so.
And following the game, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy wasn’t exactly doing cartwheels about his team’s overall effort.
“Clearly not good enough,” Cassidy said. “I thought some guys came to play and some guys didn’t. Didn’t break a sweat, some of them it looked like. I’m sure there was effort, they were trying, they were just in between, couldn’t execute or whatever. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t good enough.”
Despite losing their last two games, the Bruins still are five points clear atop the NHL standings. They’ll have a chance to get back on track Thursday at home against the Dallas Stars.
