Bruins Notes: Boston Finds Silver Lining In Eighth Straight Defeat

If the Boston Bruins were going to suffer an eighth straight defeat at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night, they were going to go down swinging. Literally.

The Bruins weren’t afraid to drop the gloves and exchange fists with their opposition, doing so twice within the first two minutes of the contest.

It illustrated the effort the Bruins were determined to play with at the end of a disastrous road trip. So while the Bruins didn’t get the result they wanted by dropping a 2-1 decision to the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena, they can take pride in the fact they played the right way.

“I liked a lot about our game tonight. I thought our compete level was high. I thought there was a lot of intensity in our game tonight,” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco told reporters, per team-provided video. “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t come away with the result that we wanted to. Obviously, it’s frustrating. I feel for the guys. We gave a solid effort here, we just fell short. We weren’t able to capitalize on a few of our chances there, especially one at the end.”

Sacco felt the Bruins “were ready to play” from the opening puck drop and that was evident from defenseman Andrew Peeke’s physical play. Peeke laid a big hit along the boards on Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat and then had to answer for it with the two fighting just 1:06 into the contest despite DeBrincat giving up seven inches in height.

“I didn’t love the hit,” DeBrincat said on the ABC broadcast after the first period. “I think he got me in the head. I don’t think he necessarily meant to get me in the head, but it did. I thought early in the game, we can’t let that happen.”

The Bruins nor the Red Wings were willing to back down as 55 seconds after the bout between Peeke and DeBrincat, Jakub Lauko and Austin Watson got into it. This time, the Red Wings had the size advantage with Watson weighing 45 more pounds than Lauko and he used it to his advantage. Watson also received a misconduct to go along with his fighting major.

The tenacity was needed for the Bruins and kept them close throughout. They would have tied the game in the final seconds had it not been for Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot robbing Casey Mittelstadt.

The game ended like the four others on the road trip for the Bruins — they were outscored, 23-7, in the five contests. But this loss felt different than the others.

“I thought the effort was there. I thought we played hard for 60 (minutes). It was one of the more complete games that we’ve put together over the last little while,” Bruins forward Morgan Geekie told reporters, per team-provided video. “It’s tough when you don’t see the results at the end of that. But, it’s something we can build off of and take the positives out of.”

Here are more notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Red Wings game:

— It was shades of Gregory Campbell from Parker Wotherspoon in the final minute of the second period. Wotherspoon got in the way of a shot and dropped to the ice. Wotherspoon struggled to get to his feet and when he finally did, he had to play on for several more seconds despite being clearly hobbled with the Red Wings on the power play.

Once the Bruins cleared the puck, Wotherspoon got to the bench, where he was attended to by a member of Boston’s medical staff. He didn’t miss any time, though, as Wotherspoon was back on the ice for the third period.

— Boston’s offensive woes continued, especially in the final frame. It took the Bruins until the 14:06 mark of the third period to record their first shot on net. They finished with just four shots in the period and 21 for the game, marking the 10th straight contest in which they registered 25 shots or fewer on net.

— It still wasn’t the best performance out of Jeremy Swayman, but it was a big step in the right direction for the Bruins netminder. Swayman allowed a leaky goal early in the first period but went on to stop 20-of-22 shots, giving him his first game with a .900 save percentage or better since March 11 against the Florida Panthers, which was Boston’s last win.

— The Bruins have another chance to snap their losing streak when they host the Eastern Conference-best Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.