Bruins Fanbase Reach Boiling Point Over Recent NHL Playoffs Condition

A couple of months ago, Boston Bruins fans dreamed of watching their team make it to the NHL playoffs. Now, the Bruins have shattered those dreams in the weeks that have followed, ending up with a 30-32-9 losing record. Now, after their fifth consecutive loss and going 0-2-0 in the first phase of the five-game trot on the road, the fans’ patience is running thin.

So what part of the recent loss upset Bruins fans to the point of exhaustion? Well, a better question to ask might be; what part of their fifth straight loss didn’t upset? For starters, “This team just lost to the sharks,” one Redditor posted on r/Bruins. The Sharks are currently at the bottom of the entire league. Yet, losing to the San Jose Sharks was only the first of a laundry list of issues.

“Sometimes you need to trade guys who think they’re better or more important than the team, especially when it comes to salary negotiations,” the Redditor continued in his post. The user tactfully avoided naming who he tried to highlight with the statement. Yet, we know that goaltender Jeremy Swayman is among the more expensive players on the Bruins’s roster.

Moreover, fans have repeatedly criticized Swayman for his recent performance in front of the net, after holding out in 2024 owing to contract negotiation disputes. However, Swayman wasn’t part of the Boston squad that lost to San Jose. Unfortunately, goaltending has been far from Boston’s sole problem. They struggled with defense and offense, it was on full display against the Sharks.

Despite having 23 shots to the Sharks’ 22 shots on goal, the only time the Bruins found the back of the net was when San Jose goaltender Alexander Georgiev misplayed the puck. And then came this biggest issue of the game. “The refusal to challenge an obvious offside,” wrote the Reddit user. In fact, fans fiercely debated if the match-winning goal itself was offside.

Boston Bruins fans tried to pick apart everything going wrong

The fact that the Bruins tried to reboot the entire rooster didn’t escape the fans. They made some massive moves near the end of the transfer period. Letting go of Brad Marchand, their captain of 16 years, stunned the fans. And while the major changes seemed to have an effect right after the trade closed things quickly fell apart, leaving fans to question the synergy among the players.

“Throughout the entire game, it’s so easy to see who hasn’t been with the Bruins all season. Mittelstadt, Khustnutdinov, Lauko, and Jokiharju may lose the puck, but they actually skate with a purpose to try and get it back,” commented on Bruins fan. “The rest of the team that sees the puck go away and all they do is stand still and reach with their stick like a 5th grader in gym class playing floor hockey,” continued the fan.

The fan’s words echoed those of the original poster, who also questioned the mindset of the entire team. “Have they embraced a fully losing mentality?” the Redditor had asked seeing the seemingly offside goal of unchallenged. “It just keeps growing Increasingly difficult to watch the abject lack of effort night in, night out,” the commenter added.

However, Coach Joe Sacco did explain why the team didn’t challenge the match-winning goal. When Lucas Carlsson scored his first goal of the season giving the Shark their 2-1 lead with just 3:23 left on the clock, he seemed offside. However, despite taking the time Sacco assistant Chris Kelly decided against challenging the gaol that ended the Bruins’ night.

“From our perspective, the player that was carrying the puck, he did not have possession,” Sacco told NESN after the game. “He let go of it before he entered the blue line,” added the NHL team’s coach. However, this didn’t do much to change the fans’ minds. Instead, it invited comments like: “They don’t hate to lose.”

Some fans even directly questioned the interim head coach methods. “There is ZERO system under Sacco. ZERO. Seems to me that regardless of whether or not players want or don’t want to play for upper management, they 100% don’t want to fight and play for Sacco…” complained another Reddit user. Criticism also swung toward the Boston Bruins GM.

The interim head coach and Don Sweeney had the correct intention to reboot the squad that was falling further and further behind the playoffs race, but those changes haven’t worked. Joe Sacco saying the team was “unable to capitalize,” on scoring opportunities, didn’t inspire confidence. Meanwhile, another fan highlighted how even a last-ditch attempt to equalize had the opposite result.

“At the end, you know we’re going to give a free empty net every time. It’s not working,” said one fan, saying how trying to go all-in cost the Bruins another goal, and a 3-1 loss. “We can’t even function on a power play…” added the fan. However, at the end of the day, the hockey team’s fans did find something positive amidst the overwhelming negative.

That flicker of positivity came through none other than defenseman Nikita Zadorov. “Zadorov +15 … That’s insane on this team,” commented one fan. However, that ray of hope seemed fleeting as the fan contrasted the stat with Zadorov’s fellow defenseman Mason Lohrei, who’s currently at -27. Yet, what’s your take on where the Boston Bruins are going wrong? Write your views in the comments.