Boston Bruins frustration boiled over Sunday as a slow start doomed them in a 6-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators. The night unraveled quickly and never recovered.

Boston struggled out of the gate, falling behind 3-1 in the first period as Ottawa dictated the pace and won nearly every early battle. The Bruins looked reactive instead of assertive from the opening faceoff.

The situation worsened in the second period. After Ottawa scored its fifth goal, head coach Marco Sturm made a difficult call and pulled goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, hoping to stop the bleeding and reset the group.

Korpisalo finished the night with 12 saves on 17 shots, numbers that mirrored the chaos in front of him. Afterward, he was blunt about the result and his own performance.

“You never want to get pulled,” Korpisalo said on NESN's postgame coverage. “Doesn't matter what happens. Today was one of those days, and obviously I'm not happy with how I played.”

Joonas Korpisalo not happy after being pulled

Korpisalo also pointed to a bigger issue than goaltending. “We've just got to get back to our identity,” he said. “Battle hard, play together. Bring back the energy. I don't know if we had it today.”

Sturm echoed that sentiment, focusing on effort and urgency rather than tactics.

“It was disappointing right from the start,” Sturm said. “They came out flying, they came out skating. They came out with more energy and outworked us.”

This marked another disappointing result for a Bruins team trying to halt momentum in the wrong direction. Boston entered the night hoping to respond after back to back losses and instead fell further out of rhythm.

The loss dropped the Bruins to 20-16-1, leaving them outside of a playoff spot and searching for answers as December wears on.

Boston will get its next chance Tuesday at home against the Montreal Canadiens, a rivalry matchup that rarely lacks energy.