Bruins Drop Game 4-1 to the Blues, ‘Wake-Up Call For Us’

ST. LOUIS –– The Boston Bruins knew they had to be better after falling 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday at Enterprise Center.

“It was creeping in. Even the games we won lately, on the end, we were just sloppy, I would say. It finally caught up to us a little bit on this road trip,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “You just can’t play that way. Maybe we needed it. Hopefully it’s going to be a bit of a wake-up call for us. Just got to move on.”

James Hagens logged his fifth goal and 10th point of the season to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead early in the first period. Casey Mittelstadt scooped the puck off the wall following an attempted clear from Blues goalie Joel Hofer, and whipped it towards the net, where Hagens tipped it through his legs at 5:28. The 19-year-old forward’s focus in front has been paying off – Hagens has the second-most points of any rookie in the NHL, trailing only Gavin McKenna, who has 11.

“I think [Elias Lindholm] did a good job forcing it, and [I was] just trying to beat the winger to the puck. I saw Hags pretty open, and he has a heck of a tip. It was a good start. Obviously it would've been nice to build on it a little bit better than we did,” Mittelstadt said. “I don’t think it’s time to panic or anything. I think we’ve got some confidence and some swagger in here, so go home and regroup.”

St. Louis found the 1-1 equalizer with a power-play snapshot from Jimmy Snuggerud at 15:43. Philip Broberg then put the Blues ahead 2-1 at 5:17 of the middle frame, and Robert Thomas made it 3-1 at 12:08.

​“This league humbles you quick when you’re not doing the right things, and we kind of saw it go into effect tonight. I think we had some moments in the game, but over 60 minutes, too many mistakes and we got punished,” Hampus Lindholm said. “It’s a tough one to see slip away, but sometimes you have to learn from games like this and make it be a lesson coming down the line of the season here.”

A backhander from Jake Neighbours brought the contest to its final 4-1 standing with the Blues’ second power-play goal of the night at 12:42 of the third period.

“That’s on us. I don’t think they did anything special; we talked about it, that was just a mental break on certain individuals,” Sturm said. “But overall, it just felt like it happened all night.”

The Bruins will be back at TD Garden on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks.

​“Tough road trip. Didn’t play to our standard. The biggest takeaway is when we are winning, we flip the page, we come to work the next day and get better,” David Pastrnak said. “It’s hard, but we’re going to do the same. We have a big game Saturday, so we’re going to get home, get better tomorrow and get back in the winning column.”