BOSTON — The Boston Bruins started last season with six straight wins, going 11-1-1 in their first 13 games.
The season before, the Bruins opened with 10 wins in their first 11 games and 17 in their first 19.
So the fact Boston sits at 3-4-1 following a 5-2 home loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday, its seven points tied with the Buffalo Sabres for sixth in the Atlantic Division, is unsettling and uncomfortable for players used to fast starts and an assured spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“We don’t like these results. We’re acknowledging that,” Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy said.
It’s not who they are and what they’ve been.
“This is a bit of new territory for us to have this happening early in the year after these last couple years where we’re usually just gangbusters,” McAvoy said. “I think a little bit of our attitude is, it hasn’t won us anything being the best team in October.
“We’re fine. We’re not going to panic. It’s game eight. Hopefully we’ve got a lot of games left and we’ll keep getting better.”
So though it’s too early to worry about a postseason spot that is still far more likely than not, Boston has many, many aspects of its game that need correcting, especially ahead of a visit from the rival Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, NESN, SNP, SNO, CBC).
“It’s of our own doing, which is a good thing, I guess, because we can rectify it,” captain Brad Marchand said. “We’ve got to get back to playing the right way for 60 minutes and doing the right things all the time and understanding that success is hard and we need to play a hard game to win. That’s how we’ve always won. We just need to get back to that.”
Marchand pointed out there had been significant amounts of turnover in the past couple of seasons, that important players had missed stretches of training camp — including center Elias Lindholm, goalie Jeremy Swayman and himself — and that it’s early.
And yet, it’s clear no one on the Bruins finds what’s happened acceptable.
“A lot of the mistakes that we’re making and the reasons that we feel we’re losing is because of our lack of respect for the game and consistency in details,” Marchand said. “Those are things you can fix. When you have a lack of effort and guys just not caring, that’s a whole different issue and that’s not what we have.”
It is, however, easy to point to the issues Boston has been having: too many penalties, too many turnovers. It’s a scenario that has repeated itself throughout the first eight games of the season.
On Thursday, against the Stars, the Bruins took three penalties in the second period. Each power play resulted in a goal for Dallas, a team that had come into the game having converted twice in seven games this season. Overall, Boston took five penalties in the game, including two by Marchand and two by forward David Pastrnak.
There were moments when the Bruins looked good, brief glimpses of what they believe they can be and are.
But they came too late. They were too short.
“Our attitudes need to go in a better, healthier direction, as in trying to control what you can control,” coach Jim Montgomery said. “Which is trying to excel at your role. Our attitudes are not in the moment. They’re on results.
“And when your attitude is on results, you tend to take too many penalties because you get frustrated quickly and you tend to turn over the puck a lot because you don’t want to work for the offense. You want results right away. And that attitude of not willing to work for what we want to get and get to our team game is causing some struggles right now.”
Boston leads the NHL in penalties taken, with 44 minors and four major penalties for 48 total penalties. The next closest team is the San Jose Sharks, with 42 total penalties. It means the Bruins are, as McAvoy said, “taxing our penalty kill way too much.”
Couple that with an offense that isn’t exactly clicking, and it yields losses.
Montgomery pointed to Boston’s recent road trip through Colorado, Utah and Nashville. The Bruins defeated the Avalanche 5-3 but followed that with a lackluster 2-1 overtime loss to Utah and a 4-0 defeat to the Predators, Nashville’s first win of the season.
“If you’re not focused on habits and details, you’re going to get frustrated,” Montgomery said, “and the margins of error aren’t very big in this league and we’re on the wrong side right now. I think our attitudes are driving it.”
They will get back to the drawing board on Friday at practice, and will hope they have a better showing against the Maple Leafs in a game that they’re sure to be up for. They will hope they can iron out the issues — and soon.
Because the Bruins don’t feel like they’re far away. There are looks. There are moments. There is the team, underneath, that they know they can be.
“This is a hard league,” Marchand said. “It’s going to humble you pretty quick. If any team thinks that they’re just going to roll through, they’ve got another think coming. It’s a great opportunity for us to take advantage of it and be better, and enjoy that process of working and simplifying.
“We’ll be all right.”
