Bruins Notes: Aggressive Boston Shot Flurry Fails To Produce Victory
BOSTON — The Bruins certainly didn’t have any shortage of offensive opportunities in a home matchup against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.
Boston ripped 32 shots at Vancouver goaltender Kevin Lankinen and earned three power-play chances. Those opportunities did not amount to a single goal in a 2-0 loss to Vancouver in another rematch of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals.
The Bruins have not scored more than two goals in a game since their 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 12. The loss to the Canucks was the first game Boston dropped since interim head coach Joe Sacco took over for Jim Montgomery, now leaving the club with a priority moving forward.
“I thought we had a lot of good looks tonight,” Charlie McAvoy said. “It stings right now. … You have to (believe) the dam’s gonna break at some point. Just hope it’s soon. We gotta keep playing the right way.”
Former Bruin Jake DeBrusk thought Boston outplayed Vancouver on that side of the puck Tuesday night, just as McAvoy did.
“Other than that, we played pretty good,” McAvoy said. “We had more shots than them. I thought we carried play better. I thought we had more O-zone time. I thought we had more looks. We just didn’t score.”
The Bruins are doing the little things right to generate quality chances. Now, they need to convert them to get momentum rolling under a new head coaching regime.
“I think it has helped our offensive game,” McAvoy said. “We just can’t score.”
Here are more notes from Tuesday’s Canucks-Bruins game:
— The Bruins honored former Boston players in DeBrusk and Danton Heinen with video tributes and an ovation from the crowd in their respective returns.
— Vancouver’s defense got physical to back up Lankinen’s superb goaltending with 26 blocked shots against Boston. The Bruins knocked down 11 shots defensively in the loss.
— Jeremy Swayman allowed just one goal on the night to finished with 13 saves. He credited his recent changes to a “mini training camp” during the season with Bruins goaltending coach Bob Essensa.
— The Canucks continued their dominant road start to the season as they improved to 8-1-0 outside of Vancouver. DeBrusk has also scored all six of his goals this season on the road.
— DeBrusk netted the game’s first goal as the highlight of what he described as a “weird” return to Boston against the Bruins.
— The Bruins are right back in action Wednesday night at UBS Arena against the New York Islanders. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.