The Boston Bruins have no choice.
After losing a 5-1 laugher Thursday night at the Vegas Golden Knights, interim coach Joe Sacco’s team has to find its game fast.
“Regroup. Quickly regroup,” Sacco said after his team opened a five-game road trip that runs through the end of March. “We will correct some things like we always do, and then we have to shift our focus right away. We can’t let this one linger too long.”
That is because the Bruins are now five points below the Eastern Conference wild-card cut line. They will try to make a dent in that deficit in a Saturday night bout with the San Jose Sharks, who have a league-low 18 wins on the season and five losses in their last six games.
Vegas goaltender Adin Hill helped frustrate the Bruins, who logged 20 or fewer shots for the third straight time during a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) on Thursday. In all of those games, Boston has gone scoreless on the power play, drawing just five.
“Frustration can’t set in. That’s not good,” Sacco said. “We need to just keep digging in and working hard and make sure that we’re playing to the end.”
Morgan Geekie scored the Bruins’ lone goal to break what was a 5-0 shutout in Vegas. It was his 24th of the season, extending a career-high mark.
All the way around, though, he knows that more pucks have to start going in the net.
The B’s have scored more than three goals just twice in their last 16 games. That is not a lot of run support for goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who has lost three starts in a row.
“It’s frustrating when you don’t put (good looks) away,” Geekie said. “Maybe it’s a different game if those go in and maybe it changes the outcome, but I wouldn’t say that’s what did us in (Thursday) by any means.”
The Sharks have lost four of five to begin an eight-game homestand, taking their latest defeat 3-1 Thursday against the streaking Carolina Hurricanes.
It was a rare night as San Jose’s lineup featured two first-timers in defenseman Luca Cagnoni (NHL debut) and goaltender Georgi Romanov (first NHL start).
“Luca, the game started slowing down for him in the second and third period. Georgi, I thought, was solid,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said.
Romanov made 26 saves with Yaroslav Askarov (lower-body injury) out. He had made three previous relief appearances over the past two seasons.
“Consistency from the goaltending position is probably the most important thing that you have on a team, and that’s something every team is striving for,” Warsofsky said.
The 20-year-old Cagnoni was a fourth-round draft pick in 2023, and he was thrown into the fire for 23:15 of ice time.
This is Cagnoni’s first professional season, arriving from the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. He is the third-leading scorer among AHL defensemen with 47 points in 56 games.
“I wish I could tell you I expected it this year, but honestly, I didn’t. Kind of came into the year, hoping to get some AHL and see what happens,” Cagnoni said. “But it’s been a pretty unreal first-year pro.”
Youth has been a season-long theme for San Jose, headlined by the arrivals of former first-round draft picks in Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini, who both played collegiately in Boston.
Smith had a goal and an assist in the Sharks’ 6-3 loss at Boston on Jan. 20. His 13 goals this season include two in his last five games.
Celebrini reached the 50-point mark, tied with William Eklund for the team lead, with his NHL rookie-best 21st goal in a 5-1 loss to the Washington Capitals last Saturday.
–Field Level Media
