Bruins' Win Streak Comes to an End with Shutout Loss to Calgary

BOSTON - The Bruins' three-game winning streak came to an end on Sunday night with a 4-0 loss to the Calgary Flames at TD Garden. Calgary, which secured its seventh shutout of the season, scored one each in the first two periods before striking twice in the final frame - just 1:03 apart - to end any thoughts of a Black & Gold comeback.
"I think it was all execution tonight, a lot of it was on us," said Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron. "Not making the plays, not executing…I think when it's gonna be a game like that you have to simplify, and I don't think we did that. Obviously, they took advantage and capitalized."
More news and notes from the Bruins' 4-0 setback to the Flames:

Finding an Identity: The Bruins sit at 9-6-0 through 15 games, leaving them one point behind Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Detroit - with games in hand on all of them - for an Eastern Conference Wild Card spot. While there have been ups and downs through an unusual start to the schedule, the B's are confident that they are working toward solidifying their identity as a top-tier team in the league.
"Yeah, of course," Bergeorn said when asked if he believes the Bruins belong in that group. "We've played 15 games this year, so of course the belief is there. And we've said that many times we've been in this position…I think we know what it takes and the things we have to work on and there's plenty of hockey left in front of us, that's the good news.
"Obviously, we have to rectify, and we have to be better, and we have to roll up our sleeves and go back to, as we talked about, the identity and really playing our game. I think [Saturday night's win in Philadelphia] was a perfect example. I don't think we have to look too far."
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy feels that his club knows how it needs to play to be successful, but with so much turnover during the offseason is still trying to put it all together on a consistent basis.
"I think we have an identity, but we're still working on it to be that team every single night," said Cassidy. "Some of that is turnover. Don't forget, we brought in three guys at the deadline last year that you're just putting in your lineup and, 'Let's go, get ready for the playoffs.' Now we're doing a little more teaching.
"Tonight's a good example. We'll talk about that Tuesday here. It's got to be every night, against every team. I myself believe we have an identity. We've just got to play to it every night."

Powering Down: The Bruins went 0 for 3 on the power play and struggled to generate much of anything on the man advantage. In fact, it cost Boston big time in the third period when Calgary broke in on a 2-on-0 shorthanded chance and, despite two point-blank stops from Jeremy Swayman, cashed in on a fourth opportunity when Andre Mangiapane made it 3-0 at 3:08 of the final frame.
"They got outworked. They got outworked," Cassidy said of his top power play unit. "We had a game plan on how to get in the zone. Calgary's PK is excellent. They defend the blue line well. There's certain ways you can get in. You've got to play behind it or try to, in the first pass, get into the middle so that you can kick it out. We didn't do it.
"That top group, they were stubborn tonight. Very stubborn in their approach. Sometimes it works out for them because they're elite players, and tonight, it didn't against a good kill. It hurt us."
Cassidy thought that the shorthanded goal against skewed what was, for the most part, a tight-checking affair on both sides.
"We feel that we had a good week. In the past stretch of games, we've played well. We played hard. I think we are a good defensive team. Tonight, we actually weren't bad defensively," said Cassidy. "I think the power play really hurt us. We didn't generate any momentum on it. If anything, it generated momentum for them…it was kind of a low-scoring, 1-0 game.
"The powerplay kind of took any life out of us. The top guys did not have a good night in any area of the game, and that's an area that could have helped us."
Bergeron added that the Bruins' power play needs to get back to simpler approach, particularly when it comes to zone entries.
"Think about making the play that's in front of you and not forcing plays," said Bergeron. "We can talk about plays and what we're seeing, but at times we have to bring the puck on net and retrieve rebounds, and second and third chances and then things will open up. I think we forced a lot of plays tonight."

Not Feeling at Home:Swayman (27 saves) suffered his first career loss at TD Garden, falling to 8-1-0 on home ice. "We hate losing at home," said Swayman. "It's a super big disappointment, but they're a good team. They worked hard, played the right way, so take the positives from this game and move on."
At the other end of the ice, Swayman's former partner in Providence and Boston, Daniel Vladar - who was traded to the Flames in July - made 27 saves of his own for his second shutout of the season.
"He's a great guy, great teammate," said Swayman. "Obviously, we don't like losing, but yeah, happy for him. He's had success. Good for him."