{"id":248637,"date":"2025-10-24T13:31:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/248637\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T13:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:31:10","slug":"an-embarrassed-bruins-team-is-seeing-their-season-splinter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/248637\/","title":{"rendered":"An \u2018embarrassed\u2019 Bruins team is seeing their season splinter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Bruins\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“The reality \u2014 I think we saw last year \u2014 is what happens when you don’t perform. And that’s the way things seem to be going.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Bruins
\n\tThe Bruins have lost six games in a row. Ken McGagh for The Boston Globe\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Conor Ryan<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 24, 2025 | 8:10 AM\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

4 minutes to read<\/p>\n

TD Garden rose as one as soon as Morgan Geekie\u2019s wrist shot sailed into twine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the span of just 25 seconds, the Bruins erased what was a two-goal lead for the Anaheim Ducks in the third period \u2014 with tallies from Geekie and David Pastrnak knotting up a seesaw contest at 5-5 with just 5:03 left in regulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the cheers rained down from the upper levels of Boston\u2019s barn, the Bruins once again refused to roll over amid an uneven (and often frustrating) start to the season.<\/p>\n

It took all of 30 seconds for that cacophony of jubilation to shift into stunned silence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In what has become a regular trend through just nine games this season, Boston let go of the rope defensively after lighting the lamp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As both Charlie McAvoy and Mason Lohrei set their sights on Nikita Nesterenko, Troy Terry was left unchecked at Joonas Korpisalo\u2019s doorstep.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The result? A back-breaking sixth goal for Anaheim \u2014 and an eventual sixth straight loss for the Bruins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is devastating \u2014 the way we\u2019re losing these games,\u201d McAvoy said. \u201cIt\u2019s just, it\u2019s killing us. We\u2019re fighting so hard and we just can\u2019t stop beating ourselves. So it\u2019s, yeah, it\u2019s pretty defeating right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m embarrassed,\u201d goalie Joonas Korpisalo added. \u201cWe should all be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Silver linings were expected to be drawn on heavily this season for a flawed Bruins team that \u2014 on paper \u2014 was going to be hard-pressed to generate offense.<\/p>\n

In the weeks leading up to the start of the 2025-26 campaign, new head coach Marco Sturm mapped out the vision of a team that \u2014 even with its limited arsenal of weapons\u00a0\u2014\u00a0would be a hard out due to a stingy defensive structure that would keep games close.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, the opposite has happened for a Bruins team short on answers less than 10 games into the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re scoring five [goals]. There should be an automatic win all the time,\u201d Nikita Zadorov said. \u201cThat\u2019s not our identity. So we\u2019ve got to work on it. We\u2019ve got to find a way to shut it down before it gets too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Bruins forward corps currently rolling out fourth-line scrappers like Jeffrey Viel in a middle-six spot and underwhelming offseason pickups like Viktor Arvidsson on the second line is still averaging 3.22 goals per game \u2014 good for 11th in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A peek under the hood shows that the Bruins are still struggling when it comes to generating quality chances at 5-on-5 offense, with only five teams producing fewer high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 action than Boston\u2019s 9.9 (per Natural Stat Trick)<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, the Bruins are landing enough punches at 5-on-5 action and on the power play (2-for-2 on Thursday) to at least remain competitive this season.<\/p>\n

But in a development that has even left Sturm shell-shocked, a porous defense from last season has sprung even more leaks so far this fall \u2014 oftentimes at the worst possible moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew there was work to do. I thought it would be more work offensively than defensively. That\u2019s where I\u2019m really surprised,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cYeah, we tweaked a few things system-wise. But still, it should be in our DNA. That\u2019s the Boston Bruins\u2019 DNA \u2014 playing solid, good defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then we go from there. And now it almost goes \u2014 we are the opposite, right? We\u2019re looking for a lot of goals, and forget about our own end. So that part is tough to understand a little bit. Where is that coming from, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bruins\u2019 defensive struggles have generated a season\u2019s worth of devestating setbacks in a little over two-weeks time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The timing of Boston\u2019s defensive breakdowns has sapped whatever sort of momentum Sturm\u2019s team has been able to seize as they continue to claw back from deficits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through nine games, the Bruins have coughed up a goal seven times within three minutes of scoring one of their own.<\/p>\n

It happened during Tuesday\u2019s crushing loss to Florida, with Carter Verhaeghe scoring with just 25.7 seconds left in regulation \u2014 and 1:05 after Geekie converted on an equalizer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it struck the Bruins twice on Thursday, culminating in Terry\u2019s game-winning strike in the closing minutes of the third period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it happens every game, it seems,\u201d Geekie said of Boston\u2019s track record of giving up goals after scoring. \u201cOur coaches prepare us with everything we need for the game. And I mean, it\u2019s just embarrassing \u2014 to the fans, to everybody. \u2026 Growing up \u2014\u00a0I mean, everybody watched the Bruins, and everybody hated to play against the Bruins because of how they played.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s something that I think our identity needs to be. And I think in games like today \u2026 we just get away from that, and we have the team to be able to play like we should, with the culture and the integrity of being a Bruin. It\u2019s just we start to think that we\u2019re something else, I think. And when we do that, we get away from what we\u2019re really good at, and that\u2019s just playing good, hard hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bruins still have 73 games left on their regular-season docket.<\/p>\n

But Geekie is not focusing on silver linings. Not when the same errors that have plagued this team for two weeks have shown no signs of sorting themselves out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough to be glass half-full, to be honest with you,\u201d Geekie said. \u201cI think everybody\u2019s sick of it in here: the new guys, the guys that were here last year that went through everything and saw everybody get shipped out at the deadline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right, there is a lot of season left. But I mean, \u2026 you can\u2019t ruin your season at the start. But it can get out of hand pretty quick. And I think that\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen if we don\u2019t turn things around. It\u2019s a great group of guys in here. And the reality \u2014 I think we saw last year \u2014 is what happens when you don\u2019t perform. And that\u2019s the way things seem to be going.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

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