The Boston Bruins entered Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a chance to win a 2026 Stanley Cup Playoff berth. In most cases, getting a chance at the postseason requires help from other teams. Unlike most teams this time of year, the Bruins’ approach was simple: win, and they’re in.
Things did not end this way.
Low scoring stories are more common in the playoffs, but that is often caused by a combination of several factors. Whether teams play an aggressive style of hockey to limit chances, tight defensive structures that limit scoring opportunities, tight bend play or a combination of the three, the average score in playoff games is often lower than in the regular season.
Losing a game 2-1 in a must-win situation is not the end of the world. The Bruins are two games away from winning, head coach Marco Sturm talked about in his post-game press conference.
“We were hoping to have a big day and afternoon here in Boston. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen,” Sturm said. “Also, we have to look at the positives. The positive thing for me is that we have two games left, we are still in control. We will get back to it tomorrow.”
Although Sturm is right, it is not the outcome of the game that affects how the game went.
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Morgan Geekie may have regained his scoring touch with four goals in the past two games, but the Bruins as a whole are still struggling to create a consistent offense. Despite that, they have been content to keep James Hagens on the sidelines in must-win situations instead of seeing if he can spark something.
It’s fair to say that Hagens is young, inexperienced and has to learn the Bruins’ defensive scheme before jumping into action. It’s also worth noting that the Bruins were guilty of too many turnovers in their own zone against the Lightning, with the biggest call coming seconds before Emil Lilleberg hit the game-winner with 1:35 left.
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Hagens has no experience in the system, but the veteran players on the roster haven’t shown enough to prove they deserve more trust than the 19-year-old Hagens. If they can’t play a responsible type of hockey in a must-win game while failing to score, someone has to do it.
If it wasn’t for Jeremy Swayman who played an excellent game, things would have been worse than the final result shown. Right now, the Bruins are their biggest enemy.
Even if the Bruins win a playoff spot, they’ll be in for a short postseason run if they can’t get out of their groove and get back to basics. From top to bottom, everyone needs to get better. It starts with Sturm’s personnel decisions and coaching before and during the game. From there, players need to be more committed to their position, play a more intentional brand of hockey for a full 60 minutes and find a way to create offense without being defensively defensive.
The Bruins have played well despite turnovers and a lack of goals, but at this stage of the season, that only goes so far. If they don’t clean up the mistakes quickly, those qualities won’t matter for long. If the Bruins can build on the positives and clean up the mistakes, they could still make some noise in the playoffs. Whether they actually do will depend on how quickly these changes come.
