2 Takeaways From Bruins’ 6-2 Loss to Jets

This streak has marked an extraordinary January for the Bruins’ leading scorer, who set a personal record for goals in a month with 11. His 19 points over his last nine games lead the entire league in that span. Historically, when Pastrnak has been at his best so have the Bruins. Not the case here; the Bruins have lost four of their last seven. In fact, in their last five games, they have managed to score just two goals that Pastrnak has not factored in on. Things boiled over for No. 88 as the Jets netted their last goal of the night and he broke his stick over his empty net in a rare sign of frustration. The fact that their best player just had arguably the best month of his career and the team has still struggled to win games is a huge cause for concern for the black and gold.

Careless Defense

The Bruins’ defensive struggles continued against the Jets. Joonas Korpisalo had played a decent game through two periods, allowing two goals on 21 shots through the first 40 minutes. After Elias Lindholm tied the game on a shorthanded snipe just 11 seconds into the final period, however, things began to fall apart. Just 24 seconds later, Mark Scheifele scored on a power play snap shot to move the Jets ahead by one. Less than a minute after that, Mason Lohrei carelessly carried the puck past the Bruins net, allowing Nikolaj Ehlers to poke it into the goal to make the score 4-2 in one of the uglier defensive efforts you will ever see in a player’s own zone.

The Bruins struggled on the whole defensively, and they were also hurt by careless penalties and a poor penalty kill. Marchand took two lazy calls which the Jets were able to cash in on, one in the first period for a needless cross-check and the other an interference call with just three seconds left in the second. Penalties like these have proven costly for the Bruins in 2024-25, particularly in a campaign where so many teams are so close together contending for playoff spots in the East. One way the Bruins can elevate their play down the stretch is to eliminate careless mistakes like these.

Looking Ahead

Losses like these are costly. As of Thursday night, the Bruins sit in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with as many or more games played than anyone in the conference. As we approach the trade deadline, management needs to make a call: will they buy, hold, or sell? Games like last night make it difficult to argue that the team should buy or even hold. Though we have over a month until the March 7 deadline, the Bruins will have a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, meaning they will play just 11 games before then. The team needs to turn things around now if they want to show management that this is a roster worth keeping together come the end of February.