The NHL regular season is a grueling one, coupled with the schedule the Boston Bruins have had for the past month and a half makes for a rough stretch of games.
It was evident in the 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday at TD Garden.
“We’re going into our fifth week of four (games) in five (nights), and we’re just starting again,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said postgame. “You’re going to have peaks and valleys with your energy levels. We try and monitor the best we can, but the schedule is unforgiving right now, so we’re going to lay eggs once in a while.”
The Black and Gold have been playing a lot of hockey, 12 games in the past 20 days, with half of the games being back-to-backs and travel in between.
“This is probably the toughest schedule I’ve ever seen or been part of,” Bruins forward Brad Marchand said via team-provided video.
Marchand added while the team was disrespectful to the game against the Predators, being tired should not be an excuse.
“Fatigue comes into it definitely,” Marchand said. “We’re going to run into situations where we’re tired moving forward, and we still got to be able to show up.”
The Bruins have eight games remaining in the regular season, with two more back-to-backs. Although they have clinched the Atlantic Division, they still have the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference to play for before they begin the hunt for the Stanley Cup.
The Bruins will cap off their two-game homestand on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets before heading out on the road for two games.
