To put it simply: Thursday just wasn’t the Bruins’ night.
Boston lost 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden, marking its second straight loss in regulation this season.
The Bruins had a little extra time off due to their Monday game getting postponed, but it appeared to not have the impact extended time off had on the Devils, who now have won two straight after not playing for two weeks due to COVID-19 protocols.
So, what went wrong?
“I just thought they were winning the races and winning the one-on-one puck battles,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game. “You’d think after four or five days of not playing we’d be the hungrier team, so we’ll address that.”
The Devils were all over the Bruins through 60 minutes and knew how to beat them to pucks and find the back of the net.
Jake DeBrusk, for one, gave a blunt assessment of how the team probably is feeling after the loss.
“I don’t think anybody feels good about their game after that game,” he said. “Anybody that watched the game could see they were pressuring pucks and winning battles.”
The B’s will have to clean these things up quickly before heading to Lake Tahoe.
Here are some other notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Devils game:
— David Krejci left Thursday’s loss after skating in just one nine-second shift.
Cassidy didn’t have too much of an update on the center after the game.
“Lower-body, that’s all I’ve got,” Cassidy said.
— Of course, there’s a chance Krejci may not travel to Lake Tahoe for Boston’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Cassidy mentioned potentially calling up Jack Studnicka or Greg McKegg in place of Krejci.
— Anders Bjork arguably was one of the Bruins’ best players Thursday night. And Cassidy noticed.
“I liked his game tonight,” he said. “I thought he played better on the left (wing). I thought he was good for us tonight just had some tough luck finishing.”
Bjork also got a bit bloodied up on a high stick from P.K. Subban, but got stitched up and returned to the ice.
— DeBrusk scored his first goal of the season in the second period, and celebrated with a classic “CELLY SZN” as the goal horn sounded.
— The Bruins now head to Lake Tahoe, but their game against the Flyers has been moved from 3 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET.
