(slight moan of agony)

First period:

The Preds basically had unrestricted access to the front of the net. Finally, near the end of the quarter, Max Jones was sent off for tripping just 11 seconds later Ryan O’Reilly scored after a shot from Roman Josi tipped past Jeremy Swayman. 1-0 Preds.

Misery, but unfortunately that wasn’t the worst thing the game gave us. Let’s move on, shall we?

Second period:

Boston played a little better! They made sure everything kept moving!

Unfortunately, the Bruins continued to give Nashville almost unrestricted access to the network, and Tommy Novak took advantage of Boston’s inability to clear the net and scored Nashville’s second goal. 2:0 Preds.

Third goal of the year for Mr. Novak. He would be second on the team in goals if he wore the black and gold.

Let’s just get this over with.

Third period:

Things evened out in the third period, but the B’s offensive problems continued as they couldn’t find a way to beat Juuse Saros, and in fact they found ways to beat themselves; such as a loss of the ball by Zadorov and a failed throw-in that gave way Gustav Nyquist made a breakaway and shot the puck into the net to make Nashville’s lead virtually unassailable. 3-0 Preds.

The B’s tried to salvage something from an empty scoring opportunity, but there was no hope. Boston also allowed a goal Luke Evangelista scores his first goal of the season with an empty net.

The Bruins give Nashville its first win of the season with a 4-0 shutout.

Game notes:

• Their TOI leader was Hampus Lindholm with a time of 22:36.
• The Boston Bruins offense is collapsing at a rate that, quite frankly, should scare you. The B’s don’t have the juice at any point in the game nor do they have any coordination with the puck. They cannot generate dangerous chances and cannot attack the net in a meaningful way. They’re slow in a way that shouldn’t be possible. Their top six don’t make it, nor do their middle six-minute eaters. When both your stars and seemingly your fourth line are so crucial to your team’s success, you’re in big trouble. The Bruins need more of their top lines and bad. There is simply no other alternative.
• What’s worse is that the Bruins’ defense, at least in my opinion, is completely reliant on Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm playing A+++ or things will get hectic quickly. They’re failing to get out of the zone with depressing regularity, and now they’re starting to have problems with puck control at the point in the offensive zone. I would say that Jeremy Swayman should demand financial compensation for having to put up with this, but he’s already gotten that, so I think he should ask his skaters for tips.
• 0-fer on the power play, which seems to get worse with each successive penalty. It feels deeply Sisyphean because it is so useless. I’m currently sitting at 24th overall and honestly, if the Ducks weren’t on an insane streak of bad power plays, that might be notable. Something has to change.
• Nikita Zadorov wasn’t necessarily bad as a Bruin (although that night wasn’t exactly a standout night for him), but he can not Stay outside the box to save his life, and even if their PK hasn’t suffered yet, having him there would probably be better than just looking at him once a game.
• Mason Lohrei is turning back into the guy he was in the regular season last year; Someone who struggles with decision making, has deeply confusing problems with puck management, and starts floating in space where he shouldn’t be is immeasurably disappointing. I was told he was better than that. I wanted to believe it too. Now I’m just annoyed and exhausted.
• The Max Jones experiment is over until proven otherwise. He was regularly a negative player when in possession and was directly responsible for the last two penalties in the first period that gave Nashville its first goal. That was, for the record, that Best game he’s ever played in a Bruins uniform. That should be shameful.
• Elias Lindholm is one of the Bruins’ most mysterious players; He has played every game and there is virtually no middle ground for him when it comes to on-ice performance. It was either extremely positive, as in well over 60% of the shooting values, or a extreme negative, around 30% bad at best. Tonight was a bad Lindholm night, and although Pasta and Zacha drove the fans crazy, he stood out. To me it feels like he always stands out because he has a big pendulum swing in his effectiveness. At least he won most of his faceoffs.
• Jeremy Swayman had a .927 SV% night. Considering how Boston plays, they need to have at least one hitter hitting .960 or higher to accomplish anything.
• The fans are very worried about Jim Montgomery and whether he will be able to properly motivate the team to play better. It’s natural, I think, for fans to start blaming senior leadership for bad stretches like this, especially… but I think the better question for this team to deal with is… what else may He doesn’t just replace players in the squad? Call Fabian Lysell? Let Tyler Johnson try it once or twice? Do you keep starting fights until you accidentally land a team’s star in the bin for five minutes? Should all coaches scream until the paint peels off in the locker room and at Warrior? He has the ingredients that were given to him; A team that may have competed on one side of the game when they probably should have competed on a variety of others, and now he has to make a dish with them. If Cole Koepke leads your team in points after 7 games? Something went very, very, wrong and I’ll be honest; A coach can only do so much. At the very least, I fear their problems are a little too big for one man to solve, which doesn’t include unfettered access to a buyout calendar and a list of upcoming free agents.
• It’s still early. Maybe playing in Boston will wake her up.

Well I hope you enjoyed this week’s easy game because next up is the Dallas Stars heading to Boston. The game takes place on Thursday at 7 p.m.

See you there.