Ducks 7, Bruins 5

 

In their race to the bottom, the Boston Bruins now have only one team between them and last place. After nine games this season, the Bruins have only six points for their wins in their first three games. The next six were all consecutive losses. 

But the Tampa Bay Lightning have only four points - two for their sole win, and two for a pair of OT losses. Funny thing, though - that sole win was against the Boston Bruins. One more Tampa Bay win would tie the Bruins in the standings, and their win over Boston would put the Bruins into dead last place in the Atlantic Division.

Geekie scored twice for the Bruins last night, his fourth and fifth goals of the season. Pastrnak got his fifth goal of the season, too.  Mittelstadt and Lohrei scored as well, but what difference does it make? This is a team that loses games twice as often as it wins, and is on a six-game losing streak. 

Marco Strum may not be head coach for long. It's hard to beat the shortest NHL coaching record set by Mike Babcock of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who was hired and then fired within 2½ months in 2023 without coaching a single game. In 2008, Barry Melrose coached just 16 games with the Lightning, so that may be the benchmark by which to measure Strum's career. In any event, I don't thing we'll ever be talking about a "Marco Strum era" any time in the future. 

The Bruins host the Avalanche (5-0-3) on Saturday (5:00 pm). Colorado beat the Bruins, 4-1, last Saturday in Denver but haven't won a game since.