Boston Bruins head coach Marco Sturm was direct in his message to his top players after they failed to show up on Saturday night in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche.

“Our top guys were not the top guys again,” Sturm said, following a 4-1 loss for Boston. “If you look at Colorado and our team, that’s the difference. That’s just the way it is. It doesn’t matter which team you are, your best players have to be your best players. That was the biggest disappointment tonight.”

But just in case Sturm’s message wasn’t clear enough, he punctuated it Sunday, making second line pivot Casey Mittelstadt a healthy scratch for the Bruins’ matchup with the Utah Mammoth at Delta Center and replacing him with Marat Khusnutdinov.

“Casey was alright with it, but there are a lot of other guys, too,” said Sturm in Salt Lake City prior to puck drop. “I think today it’s a speed game. That’s why a guy like Khuzy is in. Back-to-back game, quick turnaround, we thought we just needed more legs.”

Mittelstadt didn’t provide much of anything against the Avalanche–failing to record a shot on goal while being on the ice for two goals against in 13:13 of total ice time. Then again, neither did the rest of the Bruins’ other play drivers, for that matter. David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha, and Elias Lindholm all spent the final 15 minutes or so of the game watching from the bench.

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It’s a bold statement by Sturm. In his first season behind the Bruins’ bench and as an NHL head coach, he’s making his expectations absolutely clear, both through his words and now his actions.

Nevertheless, the lineup changes didn’t lead to any change in results for the Bruins, as they fell to the Mammoth, 3-2. Joonas Korpisalo made 24 saves on 27 shots, while Pastrnak recovered from his quiet performance in Colorado the night before, providing both of Boston’s goals.

With the loss in Utah, the Bruins finished their road trip without collecting a single point in the standings and have now dropped four straight games.

It was clear on paper before the start of the season that generating consistent offense was going to be an issue for the Bruins. Now that they’ve actually hit the ice, it’s even more glaring than before.

Sturm can keep switching up his lines, hoping for different results. But the Bruins may need to make an even bigger change to solve their scoring struggles.

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