{"id":710437,"date":"2026-11-13T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/710437\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T09:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T09:00:17","slug":"bruins-postgame-homecoming-spoiled-what-went-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/710437\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruins Postgame: Homecoming Spoiled, What Went Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Boston Bruins<\/a>\u2019 \u201cHomecoming\u201d game turned into a nightmare reunion with their biggest rival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bruins (13-5-1) fell flat on Thursday night, losing 5-2 to the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> (12-3-4) and ceding the top spot in the Atlantic Division. Casey Mittelstadt<\/a> scored twice for the Bruins, but Jeremy Swayman<\/a> was pulled for the first time this season after allowing four goals on 17 shots, and Michael DiPietro<\/a> made 12 saves in relief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bruins lines: projected lineup and starting goalie \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Read NextBruins Routed by Canadiens on \u2018Homecoming\u2019 Night<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, we were just not good enough,\u201d Marco Sturm<\/a> said postgame. \u201cMe included. Goalie, players, you name it. It\u2019s just today was not good, and yeah, 4-0, you usually try to do something, I guess. But yeah, I think we all can do better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Swayman lasted just 28:14. He made 13 saves, but allowed three high-danger goals against on six high-danger shots. He finished with -1.78 goals saved above expected, according to Natural Stat Trick<\/a>. The Canadiens beat him twice on breakaways, and beat him twice within six feet of the net.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never want to do that, and you care so much, especially when you\u2019re feeling good, which I was,\u201d Swayman said. \u201cAgain, I trust Marco 100 percent, his decisions. I think, you know, at that time, that was the right call. And again, I think we responded well. Like, we had a good push. So whatever it takes for us to get that push is what we needed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Sturm pointed to everyone, including himself, the Bruins captain<\/a> and Frederic Brunet<\/a> focused on the group playing in front of Swayman.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s on us,\u201d Pastrnak said. \u201cI think we all know it. It\u2019s not on him. Yeah, you feel bad for him. We let him swim in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s definitely not on Sway. It\u2019s just bad plays in front of the net or some breakaways. Just like, there\u2019s nothing you can do sometimes, and we got to be better and get him some shots that are not grade As,\u201d Brunet said. \u201cAnd I mean, that\u2019s on us. And the fact that he got pulled is probably to change the momentum and try to do something different, but it\u2019s definitely not on him, and we got to be better for him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is there anything Jeremy Swayman could have done differently on the four goals?<\/p>\n

Swayman: \u201cStop them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, of course. You learn from everything, and that\u2019s what you need at this point in the season is just, you know, learning different scenarios, and a little adversity isn\u2019t\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/9vxBCAcrGa<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jack Studley (@jackstudley13) November 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The problems started early, and the energy inside TD Garden quickly faded. The Canadiens scored twice within the first 8:36, and despite the Bruins holding a 21-17 advantage in 5-on-5 shot attempts, they struggled to establish their game through the first 20 minutes. They looked more alive late in the first period, but only after a sluggish power play opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully [we learned] a good lesson,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cWe always talk about how hard this league is, and especially in rivalry games like this, a game like that, Montreal at home. We were just very flat. It was just, there was nothing going on. I felt like David\u2019s line was the only line early on. They pushed; they worked. But overall, it was just very flat. And all of a sudden, you\u2019re down 2-0 because of it. For me, that was the disappointing part today, that we just came out flat.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Pastrnak\u2019s line on the ice at 5-on-5, the Bruins outattempted the Canadiens 26-12. They logged 13:25 together, but they were outshot 9-8 and outscored 2-0. The Bruins also saw a productive game out of their third line, who primarily matched up against the top line; they outattempted the Canadiens 15-6, outshot them 9-3, and outscored them 2-0.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bruins were coming off an emotional divisional game, one that saw 126 penalty minutes, two fights, and seven 10-minute misconducts. The Canadiens were having none of that on Thursday. Tanner Jeannot<\/a> tried to make his physical presence felt, but Arber Xhekaj<\/a> was not willing to entertain a rematch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in the past, they (the Canadiens) had a little bit, I would say, more meat in the lineup. I know they traded one or two away, but overall, they\u2019re pretty even [with] the lines, especially up front with more skill, more speed,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cWe wanted to play our grinding game and we just couldn\u2019t because they were having the puck a lot. So end of the day, yeah, we couldn\u2019t find our game today for some reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

After showing some signs of life late in the first period, the Bruins started the second period in the offensive zone. They generated pressure and used the long change to their advantage, but put just two shots on Jacob Fowler<\/a> before the Canadiens extended the lead on their first shot of the period. The Bruins\u2019 push for offense also left them vulnerable on the back end, with both Jake Evans<\/a> and Cole Caufield<\/a> capitalizing on breakaways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everything was bad, especially in the second period, we came out a little bit swinging, had a good push there. I really liked it. But then we almost were too aggressive and you could see it, having two breakaways against,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cAs soon as that happened, I knew we were just not on the same page today, unfortunately. With this kind of team, with this kind of skill \u2026 we gotta be very, very well structured and disciplined, and we just weren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casey Mittelstadt provided the only goals for the brown and gold on Thursday, scoring twice as the Bruins trailed 5-0. His pair of goals gave the Bruins something to build on late in the game, but the damage had already been done.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The loss snapped both a four-game win streak and a seven-game home win streak for the Bruins. It marked their first home loss since the beginning of October, and their last regulation loss came to the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 29. Their four-game homestand continues on Saturday night when the Bruins close out their season series with the Minnesota Wild<\/a>, and they have little time to dwell on Thursday\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, obviously you\u2019re going to have games like this. It\u2019s a long year, but you want to at least find your game and feel good heading into the next one. You don\u2019t want it to carry over,\u201d Mittelstadt said. \u201cI think that we did some good things maybe later in the game, in the second and the third. But at the same time, it\u2019s a big match for us and a big rivalry. So, we\u2019d like to be ready to go and have a better night.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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