The Bruins returned from a successful five-point road trip hoping to keep things rolling. Unfortunately, the Bruins were down early, chasing the game entering the second period already down by three, and then four by the midway point of the second period, en route to a 4-1 loss at TD Garden.
In the eyes of Bruce Cassidy, who made his return from COVID protocol Tuesday night, this game was off from puck drop.
"I think early on, it took us a while to check in, and that could be a number of things," said Cassidy. "Mentally, I thought we weren't there early. We were standing still a lot in situations against this type of neutral zone where they played. We had to be moving better."
Without Marchand on the ice to get things going, younger players were looked upon to step up and try to light a spark.
"A great opportunity for an Anton Blidh, for a Trent Frederic, Connor Clifton, guys who have been kind of in and out of the lineup that can solidify - maybe a Curtis] Lazar. I think Nick Foligno was trying; he was buzzing in front of the net," said Cassidy.
By the third period, the Bruins did seem to get some sort of a rhythm going, something that lacked the first 40 minutes. This push earned Patrice Bergeron his 10th goal of the season and held the Knights to down with Swayman pulled in the final few minutes of the game.
[Video: Cassidy and players speak with media after 4-1 loss
Coming off a long trip, back to back games, no Marchand or Smith, and the mental stress of COVID running through the league, some would attribute these factors into the way the Bruins played Tuesday night.
Taylor Hall, however, is not one for excuses, recognizing that their play was great when Marchands was out on his suspension last week.
"We played three games with Marchy out and I thought we played well, we did our best in his absence, everyone knows what he does for our team and I thought we did a good job making up for that when he was out with his suspension," said Hall.
With many NHL teams dealing with COVID and the grind of the travel schedule, Hall was not willing to credit the team's play to the challenges they face away from the ice.
"Today, I can't really buy into the excuses, the travel or the COVID stuff. Every team deals with it and it is what it is. We have to respond and have to get better," said Hall.
As for Jeremy Swayman, the young Bruins goaltender was not originally slated to play Tuesday night, but with COVID testing issues keeping Linus Ullmark out of practice on Monday, he took the net.
"The perfect example for not knowing what's gonna happen, right, is this COVID thing," said Swayman. "Things can change in an instant, right, and one day you're ready to go and perfectly fine, and all of a sudden you pop a positive test. You have no idea when that's gonna happen, so the best thing we can do is follow the guidelines, making sure we're doing the right thing and giving ourselves a chance to play and be healthy".
The Bruins will look to turn it around as they leave for New York Wednesday afternoon in preparation for Thursday night's game vs. the Islanders, a game that is followed by another trip up North to face Montreal and Ottawa in back-to-back matchups this weekend.
