Bruins’ OT Loss To Ducks Signals Obvious Need For Improvement

BOSTON -- The Bruins got bulldozed by a worst-case scenario when opening up their four-game homestand against the Ducks on Thursday night.

Riding into town with the momentum of a successful four-game road trip sweep, plus a perfect 6-0-0 record, nothing could go wrong, right? Especially with a two-goal lead and less than two minutes remaining in the third period against an Anaheim squad Boston already defeated just days ago. That's an ideal on-brand Bruins scenario that typically results in an easy trot to the finish line, as it did many times last season.

But that wasn't the case at all.

Instead, the Ducks exposed a gaping early-season flaw that the Bruins have been able to conceal for the most part, but can still haunt them on any given night: offense. That dragged Boston down in its 4-3 loss, ending a six-game winning streak to open the 2023-24 campaign.

"We could've extended our lead to 4- or 5-1. We had many opportunities to do it," Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said postgame. "We didn't finish the game. ... It's inexcusable, you can't be up 3-1 with five minutes and end up tied going into overtime."

Montgomery added: "I thought the game was over twice."

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Early on, Montgomery has tweaked around Boston's lines in hopes of generating more offense, but that's come to no avail. The Bruins haven't eclipsed the three-goal mark despite the opportunities to do so being in place.

That's not a cause for major concern by any means, however, it's definitely a blemish that, ideally, should be addressed early on in order to prevent it from becoming a staple.

Boston obviously set a high and unfair bar during Montgomery's debut run at the helm last season, but that doesn't negate the offense from living up to expectations and doing its part in preventing crunch-time collapses alike.

Montgomery recognizes there's plenty of room for improvement in that department, with still plenty of season left.

"Scoring in general, I think, is gonna be a bit of a little work in progress," Montgomery explained. "Defensively, we've been pretty good -- five-on-five, I'm just talking five-on-five. Offensively, we're getting better. You see it coming but it's, off the rush especially, we're not where we need to be."

There was just one notable flash of offensive firepower throughout the night -- the second period, in which Charlie Coyle and Matt Grzelcyk netted back-to-back goals, giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead.

But ... it ultimately proved to be meaningless, flipping a high-effort stroll to win No. 7 into an unspeakable head-scratcher in a matter of minutes.

Shortly after Coyle and Grzelcyk scored, the Bruins continued to apply pressure on Anahiem's John Gibson, but the sudden fuse only proved to be contagious for that frame. It didn't show up in the third period, and because of Mason McTavish, there wasn't nearly enough time for it to re-appear in time before Boston suffered its first loss of the season -- in jaw-dropping fashion.

Linus Ullmark, who allowed a season-high four goals just after recording 30 saves against the same Ducks offense, isn't too worried moving forward.

"Use it as a little bit of fuel for (the) next one when we get sweet revenge," Ullmark said. "There's something else we can do, sun's gonna rise up tomorrow. Just take it day-by-day, I guess."