The Ottawa Senators dominated the Boston Bruins in the season series, going 3-0-1. The Bruins managed to steal an overtime win from them, but aside from that result, there were some ugly games against Ottawa. The season series started and ended the same way, with two blowout losses that totaled 13-4.
There are two pieces of good news to come out of the Bruins’ blowout loss on Sunday night. The first was that they don’t have to see the team that has their number anymore, this regular season. The second is that the last time the Senators blew them out, it kick-started a massive winning streak.
Like the loss in October, the hope is that this one will wake the Bruins up and motivate them to get back into the Atlantic Division race. Boston rallied off seven consecutive wins after the 7-2 loss in October, which included those back-to-back victories over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ironically, that streak ended after those wins with another loss to the Sens.
Bruins hope that history can repeat itself after blowout loss to Senators
Boston has an opportunity to get back into the playoff race, but they’ll need to start stringing some wins together. If they continue to drop games, the belief in the dressing room will quickly start to decrease. If that happens, the Bruins may as well pack it in and go for another lottery pick.
The next few weeks will tell us plenty about the direction the Bruins are heading. After Tuesday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, they’ll get a three-day holiday break before heading on the road for five games. They’ll face the red-hot Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres, but they’ll also get the lowly Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, and Seattle Kraken.
It’s hard to expect them to rally off another seven-game winning streak, but winning five or six of the next seven could be an opportunity to get the team and fans believing again. It’ll also help that some of their injured players are starting to get healthy, and the holiday break could give players like Charlie McAvoy, Jeremy Swayman, and David Pastrnak a chance to recharge.