Bruins Get Back to Work as They Aim to Snap Skid

BOSTON – Charlie McAvoy said it best on Wednesday morning.

For the Bruins, the past week has been quite the change of pace.

After a regular season-plus of almost nothing but winning, the Black & Gold have hit a rough patch with their worst stretch in roughly two years. Boston has dropped three straight and four of its last five, while allowing 23 goals over that span.

And while the Bruins are certainly not pleased with their performance of late, particularly on the defensive end, they’re not necessarily looking at it as the worst thing – especially with them being in such strong position early in the season with a 14-4-3 record, which is still second-best in the NHL.

“We know there's a lot of things we’ve got to be better at,” said McAvoy. “We’ve got to build it, we’ve got to go one game at a time…I think sort of the mindset in here is, at least one that I'm trying to take – adversity is good. Adversity is good. I think it's something that we didn't really have much last year, so this is a bit of a change of pace in here.

“You get used to winning so much that the losses, they hurt. They feel a lot different than how they used to feel when there's so few and far in between. But overall, adversity is good. We’re going to learn a lot more about ourselves with this and as this as a season progresses.”

McAvoy said that stretches like the one the Bruins are mired in right now can end up doing wonders for a team down the road, particularly come playoff time.

“You’ve got to face that adversity head on, and you’ve got to come out the other side,” said McAvoy. “Oftentimes, you’ve got to break through the wall. It's not easy to get out of stuff like this when it's not going great, but when you break through, you'll be able to look back on it, and that helps when playoff time comes around.

“You’re down a few games, you lose two in a row, you learn a lot more about yourself. So, we’ve got to look at it from that way, not a ‘poor me’ way. We're all right, we’re in a good spot, there’s no need to panic. But this is not our standard, so we don’t want to see it going any further.”

The work toward snapping the losing streak began on Wednesday morning at Warrior Ice Arena as the Bruins held their first full practice since Nov. 19 as the schedule and travel has made it difficult to have many on-ice sessions.

“It’s our first practice since two Sundays ago…so that's 10 days,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “It was nice to practice, to be able to get some of the habits that we like to preach, you know? And then it gets back to checking. I think we’ve just been an easy team to play against here. It's not just last three games, it's probably the last six to seven.”

Montgomery reiterated that he has not been pleased with his club’s overall defensive effort, which was a main focus of Wednesday’s skate.

“I think the only [checking] part we're kind of happy with…is the forecheck,” said Montgomery, who also mentioned that the B’s pace has not been good enough. “And then if you go from the hash marks in the offensive zone all the way back to our goal line, neutral zone forecheck included, we’re not tight enough, not taking away time and space.

“It's one thing to be physical, and we want to be more physical. But the most important thing is to take away time and space, and we're not doing a good job with that…sometimes it's just the make-up of your team, you know? Like, are you built that way?

“But we expect everyone to be hard to play against, and that's either being physical, being ornery, or taking away time and space with your feet…which matters most, which creates offense. Good defense creates offense.”

Montgomery also acknowledged that the Bruins’ 14-1-3 start, and their current 0-3-0 malaise, are both not fully indicative of what this team is.

“We’re hoping to grow out of this, it's about moving forward,” said Montgomery. “I mean, in a lot of ways, we've welcomed this kind of adversity, we knew it was going to come. We knew we weren't a 14-1-3 team, and that's just being honest. And we're also not a team that gives up 17 goals in three games. We’ve got to get back to who we are, and we’ve got to continue to grow as a team throughout the year.”

Jeremy Swayman said that part of the adversity the Bruins must battle through is the intensity with which opponents bring against them each night, knowing that for two years running they’re going up against the top team in the league standings.

“If you're top dog for that long there is adversity because everyone gives you your best game,” said Swayman. “And that's a challenge that we embrace and that's kind of what we were facing again this year, which is great. And I think it's a privilege to have that. Teams are going to give us their best every single game that's only going to make us better.

“We wear a crest that is a proud crest and it's our job and our responsibility to give, not only ourselves, but everyone that supports the Bruins logo our best every single night. And even though the schedule is demanding, we have the ability to make sure that we're giving our best every night, so that's just what we're going to do.

“We're going to keep rolling because that's again that's what Bruins hockey Bruins culture is and teams are going to be nervous playing at us because that's a dangerous group coming towards you.”

Swayman Moving Forward

Like his team, Swayman is also viewing this bump in the road as a way to build.

The netminder was pulled after allowing Columbus’ second goal on Monday night, which clearly irked him as he could be seen on the broadcast speaking with Montgomery at the bench.

“I want to be in the game no matter what. And it wasn't a jawing back or anything like that,” Swayman said of the conversation. “It was just a communication thing. And we talked about it and we're completely good.

“He's our head coach and we trust everything that he's going to do, and I thought we did get the jump a little bit – whatever it takes for the team to win. And I know that I'm going to take the positives and roll with it and move forward like I always do.

Swayman, who has dropped three of his last four starts, is not carrying that frustration with him as he prepares for another start on Thursday night vs. San Jose.

“I want to finish every game I start, and that's an edge that I know I play with,” said Swayman. “And that's my M.O., so the guys, they all trust in me that I'm going to battle no matter what. And that's going to be something I'm going to carry forward for the rest of my career and today and tomorrow.

“Definitely excited to get another whack at it. And again, I mean, it's a long season. We roll day by day, right? Yesterday's in the past and that's what our culture is. That's what our mindset is. And we got two points on the line [Thursday night] and that's all we care about.”

Montgomery said that the Bruins’ tandem of Swayman and Linus Ullmark has been “the No. 1 reason we’re 14-4 and the No. 2 reason is distant to those two” goaltenders.

“I had a good meeting with [Swayman] this morning. Sway is a competitor,” said Montgomery. “I always trust my gut behind the bench, and my gut said the team needed a spark, and that was the way to get it. In New York, my gut told me to call a timeout, and my gut told me to pull the goalie with seven and a half minutes left [in Columbus].

“I don't like living with regret, and sometimes I make bad decisions. And I’ve got to own up to those as well, and I do that in my conversations with the players if it’s the case. But I’m going to go back with Swayman [Thursday] night.”

McAvoy echoed his coach’s sentiments, saying that the Bruins must do a better job supporting their goaltenders.

“I thought there were times when we're winning – and we're winning like every game – but there were pockets where we weren't really putting together a full 60, we're giving up a lot more than we should have,” said McAvoy. “Our goalies, time and time again, were bailing us out. You're looking back on a couple of saves of the game, where we don't win, and we don't get a point if they're not there for us.

“It's not fair to ask them to do that every single night. For us, we’ve got to be better. Today was a good day, we wanted to just work on compete, having compete be the mindset, and D zone. Just focusing on details and having success, and we have a chance to implement it tomorrow.

“We’ve just got to build the game, we’ve got to build it the right way, play simple brand, and we’ll be all right.”

Wait, There’s More

• Montgomery switched up his forward lines for Wednesday’s practice with Matt Poitras centering Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen and Pavel Zacha between Jake DeBrusk and David Pastrnak. Charlie Coyle, meanwhile, was reunited with James van Riemsdyk and Trent Frederic, while the fourth line of Jakub Lauko, Johnny Beecher, and Morgan Geekie/Oskar Steen remained intact. “I mean, we left the lines together for a good stretch there,” said Montgomery. “Just not seeing good enough results, so that’s why we changed certain players. We kind of like the Coyle line, they’ve been big and heavy, they're playing to their identity, didn’t find that the other lines really had an identity.”
• The Bruins defense pairs also looked a bit different on Wednesday with Hampus Lindholm paired with McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk with Brandon Carlo. Derek Forbort cycled through with both Kevin Shattenkirk and Ian Mitchell. “We do it with the forwards all the time, we haven't done it much with the defensemen,” Montgomery said of the switch. “Kind of get a different look. I feel like our D corps hasn't been at the level that it was for the first 15 games in the last five games.”

Wednesday’s Practice Lineup

FORWARDS

Brad Marchand – Matt Poitras – Danton Heinen

Jake DeBrusk – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak

James van Riemsdyk – Charlie Coyle – Trent Frederic

Jakub Lauko – Johnny Beecher – Morgan Geekie/Oskar Steen

DEFENSEMEN

Hampus Lindholm – Charlie McAvoy

Matt Grzelcyk – Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort – Kevin Shattenkirk/Ian Mitchell

GOALIES

Jeremy Swayman

Linus Ullmark