BOSTON — Jonas Korpisalo was embarrassed. Nikita Zadorov and Morgan Geekie were too.
Charlie McAvoy was devastated.
Their sixth consecutive loss — a 7-5 defeat to the Ducks — left the Bruins players in pretty dire moods on Thursday night.
The three-game winning streak that stoked optimism to start the year seems like much more than 16 days ago now.
Everybody in the Boston dressing room agreed that the Bruins have worked hard, but nobody could explain their lack of poise and execution in important spots.
“Every guy, including myself, has to look in the mirror and decide what we want to do and how we want this year to go,” Geekie said. “We got off to a decent start and we threw that down the drain pretty quickly. Our coaching staff prepares us every night to go out and play. For us to throw games away like that is unacceptable. From top to bottom, we have to be better.”
Charlie McAvoy was angry.
“This is devastating. The way we’re losing these games — it’s killing us,” he said. “We’re fighting so hard and we just can’t stop beating ourselves. It’s pretty defeating.”
Geekie admitted the memories of last year still haunt this team. The Bruins entered 2024-25 expecting to contend for the Atlantic Division title again.
Instead, they missed the playoffs, bottoming out so badly that many key players were traded.
“Everybody is sick of (losing) in here,” Geekie said. ” The new guys, the guys who were here last year that went through everything and saw everybody get shipped out at the deadline. There is a lot of season left. You can’t ruin your season at the start, but it can get out of hand pretty quick and I think that’s what’s going to happen if we don’t turn things around.
It was just three years ago that the Bruins were setting records for the most points in a regular season. The fact that they’ve fallen so far bothered McAvoy.
“It’s terrible that that is sort of the mindset. Not too long ago, all these games were ‘we’re gonna win these games.’ You can sort of see with the group right now, it’s the opposite,” he said. “You don’t just change that overnight. The only way to do that is just you got to win games. Those are deposits in the bank.”
Zadorov came to Boston to be part of the franchise’s tradition of success. He shares McAvoy’s concerns.
“It’s embarrassing. It’s not how we want to play, how we should play, giving up so many goals every single night,” he said. “We have to find a way to shut it down before it gets too late.”
Geekie said it’s not an effort issue.
“Every guy in here works his balls off. That’s not a question of anybody’s character. It’s the mental aspect of being able to perform when you have to,” he said. “It’s a tough league. They’re a good team. We’re going to face good teams all year.”
“We kind of get away from ourselves and forget who we are as a team and how we had success. We have to find a way to get back to that,” he continued. “It’s a domino effect. If one thing falls, the rest of it falls. We play a really good game of hockey when we’re on our game, but then have lapses like we did tonight.”
After watching the Bruins score two goals to tie the score late, McAvoy believed in the team’s will to win.
“We know we know we fight. That’s great, but we just can’t find a way to even get the point right now,” he said. “We give (the lead) up right, right as soon as we get it, so. We have to find a way to change it. I’m pretty frustrated right now and I’m upset and that is what it is, but it’s on us to get ourselves out of it. It’s the only thing that matters now.”
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