Bruins Need to Break Bad Habits Fast | Snap Shots Episode 52

0:00 Speaker 1: Old habits die hard, and the Bruins were guilty of slipping back into old ways on Thursday night in Las Vegas. Bad turnovers, quick goals by Vegas after a Bruins goal, and some questionable plays put the Bruins in a bad spot, leading to their second straight loss this week. Can they get things under control and stay on the offensive when they play Colorado and Utah and back to backs this weekend. This is a Bruins tape to tape snapshot.

0:31 Speaker 2: Before the season started, cam Neely referenced that he wanted this year's Boston Bruins team to be harder to play against. As a matter of fact, he went so far as to say that when opponents saw them on the schedule, they would say to themselves, shit, we have to play these guys well. Clearly, the Vegas Golden Knights did not get that memo, as they beat the Bruins six to five on Thursday evening. The Bruins have now suffered their second loss in a row, and some old bad habits that were slowly creeping into the game against the Blackhawks reared their ugly head in the game against the Vegas Golden Knights, and it cost them a win.

1:19 Speaker 2: There were costly turnovers at inopportune times. The Bruins would take a lead only to give said lead back again. There were drop passes that were left for no one but a Vegas Golden Night player to be picked up. There were ill advised pinches. All in all, it was not a good night for the Boston Bruins, despite the fact that they scored five goals, and even Marco Sturm was not pleased with how the Bruins played. They are supposed to be a defense oriented team. They are not equipped to get into a run and gun situation with the likes of the Vegas Golden Knights, in my opinion, and if the Bruins are not able to clean up a lot of the mistakes that they made in that game, the Colorado Avalanche are going to feast, and feast mightily when they faced the Boston Bruins on Saturday Night.

2:24 Speaker 1: Like in the Tampa Bay game, Boston's good moments were peppered throughout the game, constantly giving us hope that they could pull off a win, but the hill was too steep and too long to climb, and they ran out of time. In both games, the box score for the Vegas game is deceptive. There were certainly moments that were very lopsided against the Bruins, and the Bees continue to make non superstar goalies look like VESNA candidates. As much as I appreciate the hard work, the good effort, the right attitude on the ice, as well as a solid defensive structure, I hate to say it, but in the line last two games, I'm getting the sense that Boston is just not good enough to beat some of these teams.

3:08 Speaker 1: This is where heart, grit, perseverance, determination, whatever you want to call it, just can't beat talent. They have to figure out a way to make up for it. The most I've seen has been on quick moves, transitions and faceoff win shots. See Castelk's faceoff goal and Mikey's quick shot on Schmidt to the five hole for the Bruins' fifth goal. They have to start thinking like that they got out shot because they were on the PK five times for a total of twelve penalty minutes, including a double minor for Zaka.

3:43 Speaker 1: They can't play this way against Colorado, another team absolutely worth being a little afraid of. In fact, the Abs have yet to lose a game in regulation, and Scott Wedgwood has played all five of their opening games thus far. The only potential weakness that the Abs have at this point is not having a known backup goalie. They currently have Trent Minor on the books, and he's only ever played two games in his career at the NHL level. Their other goalie, Mackenzie Blackwood, recently completed a stint in the AHL for conditioning as part of his recovery from an injury, but it's unclear what the status is for him right now.

4:26 Speaker 1: It does not appear that he will be available Saturday, when the Abs are hosting the Bruins. If Boston can stop with the back and forth up and down that play that storm described in a postgame interview, perhaps they can take advantage of either the overused Wedgewood or the untested Minor quickly be disciplined enough to not take silly penalties and lock this game down early. But we shall see. I don't have to tell you who Jeremy Swayman has to worry about with this Colorado roster. He just needs to be in top form in Utah.

5:04 Speaker 1: Carol Vamelca is holding down the fort between the pipes. He's exceeding expectations right now with a sub two goals against average and a nine to nine save percentage. Barrett Hayton, Dylan Gunther, and Jack McBain are Mammoth players to watch out for, while Gunther and Nick Schmaltz lead the team in shot attempts. If the Bruins can quickly neutralize these players, they do have a fair shot at winning this game and when they must in order to keep pace with the rest of their division and the conference.

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