Bruins Notes: Boston’s Struggles Continue In Loss Vs. Blue Jackets

The Boston Bruins are 1-2-2 in their last five games and have been outscored 20-9 in those contests.

The Black and Gold’s struggles continued with another brutal showing, as they lost a 5-1 decision to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night at TD Garden. The Bruins outshot the Blue Jackets 30-29 in the contest, but once again, special teams were a glaring factor in the defeat.

The Bruins went 1-for-6 on the power play and surrendered two shorthanded goals while on the man advantage. Boston’s captain Brad Marchand expressed frustration when he spoke with the media following the game.

“Definitely, not happy with the way things are going,” Marchand said. “We need to be much better in a lot of areas. Mistakes are going to happen in the game, and we’re just compounding them. It’s not acceptable to continue to have the same mistakes and do the same things over and over. That won’t bring us success. We need to be a lot better.”

A couple of the biggest challenges the Bruins have faced this season have been starting on time and competing for the full 60 minutes.

“I think it starts with our compete level,” Marchand explained. “I think it always starts with your complete level, first and foremost. I think that in this league, you have to have the highest compete level every night if you want to be a good team. We have it through periods of the game. We have it at times, and when we do, we’re really good.

“But then we get in these other moments of the game, and we think we’re a skilled team, and we want to play through the middle of the ice, and that’s not us. We have to understand what our identity is and play to that, and we’ve yet to do that really for a full 60-minute game. We need to be a lot better. It’s costing us a lot of games and a lot of points right now.”

While the struggles in Boston are new for this team, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said when he was the coach of the Dallas Stars, the team had gone 1-7-1 to start the season and then turned it around to go 17-4-4 after that.

“There’s been a couple of wins, that I thought maybe we were turning the page,” Montgomery told reporters after the loss. “That hasn’t transpired. What you want in the first 20 games, you don’t want to be out of the playoff race. We’re not out of the playoff race.”

At 8-9-3, the Bruins hold the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference and are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning in points (19) in the Atlantic Division.

Here are more notes from Monday’s Bruins-Blue Jackets game:

— David Pastrnak was held without a shot on goal for the first time this season. The Bruins sniper had three of his chances blocked across 17:56 minutes of ice time.

— Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves in the loss and gave up two shorthanded goals in the contest. He acknowledges he has not played to his standard after the game.

“I know a lot of veteran guys that I’ve looked up to and followed have been through ups and downs,” Swayman said. “Right now, I’m in one, and I’m going to do whatever I can to get out of it, and I know it’s going to be a really good feeling. … I know how to get out of it, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

— Jeffery Viel made his Bruins debut against the Blue Jackets. The veteran forward dropped the gloves with Mathieu Olivier on his very first shift and drew two penalties in the game. he finished with 8:29 minutes of ice time.

— The Bruins will look to get back in the win column as they continue their three-game homestand against the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night. Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. You can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.