“He’s a kid who needs to learn. I think our top guys — games like this — they have to be in charge.”
David Pastrnak has zero goals through four games this season. AP Photo/Charles Krupa
October 6, 2026 | 7:54 PM
4 minutes to read
COMMENTARY
For the first time since donning the spoked B, James Hagens lit the lamp on Causeway Street Monday night.
It should have been another heartening achievement for the Bruins’ promising rookie — ideally the first of many tallies recorded on Causeway Street for the 19-year-old forward.
But a smile was hard to come by for Hagens while speaking to the media after Boston’s 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
Hagens’ goal was the lone silver lining extracted from an uncompetitive showing by Marco Sturm’s club, but the young forward was consumed more with his missteps than his second tally in four games.
“I was a big reason for a couple of those goals going in,” Hagens said. “I have to be a lot better. That was unacceptable on my end. It’s tough. You want to be able to play really well in your end and get that win.”
Hagens’ sentiment was accurate.
An ill-advised pass to David Pastrnak and a poorly timed line change from the youngster led to a Tim Stutzle steal — and an eventual Drake Batherson breakaway tally 1:06 into the second period.
An unsuccessful clearing attempt from Hagens later led to a netfront tally from Michael Amadio a little over five minutes later, making it a 4-0 game at the time.
Such are the expected growing pains that come with a Bruins roster that iced a lineup with six different players aged 24 or younger on Monday.
But Sturm wasn’t going to direct his derision toward a crop of youngsters — many of whom are essential to his team’s ongoing retooling efforts.
Those hiccups and struggles are to be expected from a group of unseasoned players finding their footing at hockey’s highest level.
What isn’t expected is the lack of results from Sturm’s established group of veteran talent — several members of which haven’t pulled their weight amid an uneven start to a new season of hockey.
“Yes, he probably had a tough night like anyone else,” Sturm said postgame of Hagens’ night. “But I won’t blame him. He’s a kid who needs to learn. I think our top guys — games like this — they have to be in charge. I can’t ask for James Hagens to take charge.
“Yes, he needs to be better. But overall as a group, we’ve just got to help those kids out. The kids have to play better as well. I won’t blame my young guys for that. They’re kids. They need to learn the hard way sometimes. But they need help, and that’s all of us.”
Between a few ill-timed penalties from Hagens and Matt Poitras, some errant feeds from rookie D-man Frederic Brunet, and a quieter night from Fraser Minten, Boston’s youth movement didn’t exactly shift the club’s fortunes on Monday.
But that grouping isn’t the one entrusted with driving play on this roster — especially on a power play that has been dormant through four games.
It wasn’t a crew of green skaters who were the culprits in a disastrous opening power play against Ottawa, which resulted in a pair of Senators tallies in the span of just 1:43.
Rather, it was a fumbled puck and critical turnover from Pastrnak that sparked the initial 2-on-1 bid for Ottawa that ended with Stutzle snapping the puck past Jeremy Swayman at 7:39 in the opening frame.
And then, a telegraphed pass from alternate captain Hampus Lindholm put Boston in a two-goal deficit after his feed was intercepted by Stutzle en route to another counter-rush and score.
“I don’t think it was a lack of effort,” Pavel Zacha said of Boston’s flat play. “I think we weren’t focused, especially on the power play. I think that’s how it started. I think we have to be better there.
“We have to be the difference-makers on the power play. Get our team going. We can’t get scored on like that, so we have to take it upon ourselves and be better in special teams.”
The results haven’t been much better at 5-on-5 play for several of Boston’s top-six stalwarts.
Through four games, Zacha and Casey Mittelstadt — two cogs in one of the best lines in hockey last season — have yet to record a single point.
Morgan Geekie — fresh off a 39-goal campaign — has dented a few posts out of the gate. But the shot-first winger still has just one assist and zero tallies on the year.
Elias Lindholm notched Boston’s equalizing goal in Friday’s eventual OT win in Winnipeg. But the veteran center has been bumped off of the Bruins’ top line next to Pastrnak in back-to-back games after the team’s 5-on-5 offense dried up.
Even Boston’s tried-and-true offensive conduit in Pastrnak has been off to open the year — with zero goals, two assists, and several turnovers marked on his scoresheet.
“That’s on us [as] players,” Pastrnak said of Sturm’s message midway through Monday’s lackluster showing. “Obviously, Coach is trying to get the momentum on the power play, and right now … there’s nobody, not one guy, that steps up on that power play and makes the play. Whether it’s confidence or just execution, we have to figure it out sooner [rather] than later.”
Sturm and the Bruins seem ready to handle some turbulence when it comes to some rookie missteps and struggles from their next wave of talent.
If those same struggles are the norm for Boston’s leaders, Sturm’s team won’t even be able to get off the runway this winter.
“The head was not there today. It wasn’t,” Sturm said of his team. “We made a lot of mistakes we didn’t do, power play, you name it. So I tried [to change things], but I knew right away we’re not going anywhere today.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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