Marco Sturm didn't hide from the Bruins' second straight loss, and Ty Anderson shared what the head coach said about the Wild after the 6-2 defeat at TD Garden tonight.
Sturm called Minnesota a Cup contender and said Boston wants to be one of those teams, but isn't there yet.
That's a blunt assessment from a coach whose team led the Atlantic earlier this week. Boston came into tonight at 13-5-1, a number that doesn't include the Wild game, and has now been outscored 11-4 across two games after the 5-2 loss to Montreal on Thursday.
NESN posted Sturm's reaction to the stretch as a whole, and he gave the opponents credit.
"The last two games, our opponents [were] just better than us," he said. There's no excuse in that sentence, no blaming the bounces.
The room sounded the same way. David Pastrnak, the team's leading scorer with 24 points before tonight, put the defensive problem on himself.
"We have to play better defensively, starting with me," Pastrnak said, per Anderson.
Can the Bruins fix their defense before the Kings arrive?
Fraser Minten went to the same place as his captain's teammates and his coach. He pointed to the foundation of the team.
"Our foundation of being a good team is defense. We have to get back to that," Minten said.
Three voices, one message. Sturm, Pastrnak and Minten all landed on defense, and that matters because Boston's issues at the back end aren't a mystery to anyone in that room. Giving up six to a team on an 11-game point streak is a bad night. Giving up five to Montreal two days earlier makes it a trend.
The night also got ugly off the scoreboard. Charlie McAvoy was involved in a fight and ejected, and Casey Mittelstadt was seen limping to the bench in the third period. We covered Casey Mittelstadt's limp in the third period earlier tonight, and there's no injury update on either player yet.
My view: Sturm kept the same lines after the Montreal loss, as we noted when he stuck with his lines on Friday. After a 6-2 result, that patience gets harder to defend, and a change on the back end shouldn't be off the table.
The Bruins are off Sunday and skate at Warrior on Monday. Then the Kings, who have lost three straight, visit TD Garden on Tuesday, November 17.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
What should Marco Sturm change first before the Kings game?
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