Bruins Notes: Bitter Loss Leaves Boston With Simple Mindset

BOSTON — The Bruins have quite a bit of work to do.

The Vegas Golden Knights skated into TD Garden and left only heartbreak behind to remember them by, erasing multiple two-goal deficits on their way to victory Saturday.

Zach Whitecloud, Pavel Dorofeyev and Tomas Hertl combined to score three consecutive goals –– the first and third of which came within the final two minutes of the second and third period, respectively — in what turned out to be just the latest disastrous loss for Boston.

The B’s were left feeling quite somber after the verdict, but when speaking to the media, multiple members of the leadership group essentially shared the same message.

It’s about the next 25 games.

Boston will just have to wait for those games, as Saturday marked the final game for the group before the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, Jeremy Swayman and Elias Lindholm will compete in the tournament, but for the majority of the roster, it represents some much-needed time off before they begin to play do-or-die hockey.

“It’s time to reset,” Marchand said Saturday. “These are the dog days of the season, so guys look forward to the break a little bit — getting away for a bit, resetting. It’s good for the group… We just have to come back with the right mindset. You know, those few days before the first game we have to work hard, get in shape, then go play. It’s do-or-die hockey the rest of the way, here.”

Swayman has never been in this kind of situation before, arriving to the winter break without a commanding lead in the playoff race for the first time since becoming a full-time member of Boston’s roster in 2021.

It’s something he views as an opportunity, though — not a hindrance.

“It’s a fight,” Swayman said. “It’s an incredible position to be in, where every point matters. It’s something we can build upon and rally around as a team, to catapult us into playoff position and then a playoff berth.”

David Pastrnak, on the other hand, knows what it’s like to fight for playoff positioning, though it’s been a while since he’s done it. Czechia won’t be part of the international tournament, so it represents something different for him.

“It’s a long break, so you have to stay in shape, but you also want to get away and spend time with family,” Pastrnak said, acknowledging what lies on the other side of the break. “… My mindset will be on that last 25 games… It’s all about that.”

Bruins-Golden Knights produced some other noteworthy items on Saturday:

— Ilya Samsonov finally got back into the win column against Boston, with the win giving him a measly 3-9-4 record in his career against the Black and Gold.

— The B’s caught a break, as a go-ahead goal was disallowed after it was determined that Mark Stone interfered with Swayman. Hertl then scored his goal less than one minute later.

“We got a break, right?” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said following the game. “We have to kill that (penalty) after because that’s a huge momentum shift when they disallowed the goal. We just have to do the job and kill that. We should have gotten it done and we didn’t.”

— Nikita Zadorov registered his first multi-point game since Nov. 27, capturing his first goal since Dec. 3 with a wicked slap shot during the first period.

— The Bruins won’t return to game action until Feb. 22, when they’re scheduled to host the Anaheim Ducks at TD Garden. It’ll be the first matchup between the two sides this season, with things scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.