The Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings have little time to sit on Black Friday losses as they meet for the first time this season on Saturday night in Boston.
It will be an opportunity for both teams to rebound in the second half of a back-to-back set, as Boston is coming off a 6-2 home loss to the New York Rangers and Detroit fell 6-3 to another Atlantic Division foe in the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bruins were dealt a major blow even before Friday’s puck drop, as top-line forwards David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha were out of the lineup due to undisclosed injuries. Both are considered day-to-day, but Bruins coach Marco Sturm said he has “no idea” if either will play on Saturday.
“We gave them the day off (Thursday), so that was something that came up (before Friday’s game),” Sturm said.
Both players finished the Bruins’ 3-1 Wednesday win at the New York Islanders.
Pastrnak, who leads the Bruins with 29 points in 25 games this season, had skated in 298 consecutive games, including playoffs.
Boston’s Matej Blumel also was out after being placed on long-term injured reserve before the game. The fellow Czech is still expected to undergo further testing.
In their place, the Bruins activated Casey Mittelstadt for the first time since Nov. 6 (lower-body injury) and recalled Georgii Merkulov from AHL affiliate Providence for the first time this season.
Mittelstadt scored Boston’s first goal after New York took a 4-0 lead through two periods. Morgan Geekie followed with his team-best 18th goal, but the overall performance was far from the expectation.
“Obviously, we know the firepower that we lost, but at least for me, games like this are an opportunity for a lot of guys to step up and seize opportunity. That’s how you kind of make it in this league,” Geekie said. “I think up and down the lineup we didn’t show up to start the game. It’s just not a very acceptable effort.”
Sturm agreed.
“I think to survive those kinds of games and stretches, you have a lot of injuries, a lot of guys have to step up. And a lot of guys didn’t,” he said.
The Red Wings will look to shake a run of three straight losses and four in five games, including back-to-back games in which they allowed six goals. After J.T. Compher’s goal gave Detroit a 1-0 lead on Friday, Tampa Bay rallied for a three-goal run and never looked back.
Compher and Michael Rasmussen each had a goal and an assist while Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin also scored. His tally came with 1:34 left in the second period and cut the deficit to 4-3, but a 2-0 third period changed things for good for the Lightning en route to their sixth straight victory.
“Right now, we’re finding ourselves in holes,” Larkin said. “Even when we were winning games, we were going down one or two early. Right now, we’re just a little fragile, and mistakes seem to be compounding.”
Despite the recent drop following a previous 4-1-1 run, Detroit remains just two points outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Finding a way out, though, will take a more regular 60-minute effort.
“The consistency is not there. The good teams do it every single night,” Compher said. “Even if we don’t get the result, it’s the same effort and commitment to defend. We need more of that.”
The loss to Tampa Bay also saw Detroit’s top-flight forwards held off the scoresheet, with Alex DeBrincat’s three-game goal-scoring streak ending. Talent is not a question, but Detroit coach Todd McLellan said he is looking for more.
“Do we have enough talent? Yes, I think we do,” he said. “Are we playing well enough? No, we are not.”
