BOSTON – “We should be embarrassed because it was embarrassing” is not something you want to hear from a head coach after a game, but never after a home playoff game.
The Boston Bruins (1-3) dropped Game 4 on Sunday afternoon, losing to the Buffalo Sabres (3-1) by a whopping 6-1 score. Sean Kuraly scored the lone Bruins goal, coming with 39.9 seconds left in the third period.
Charlie McAvoy did not mince words either, saying, “Man to man in here, if we’re not f—ing embarrassed with what just happened, then I don’t know what to say.”
Jeremy Swayman was pulled in the third period, but Marco Sturm said it was not his fault.
“I felt bad for him,” Sturm said after the game. “That’s why we kept him in there for a while, because he’s a battler. He wants to be in.”
On Swayman’s way to the bench, he appeared to have a message for his teammates, who trailed by six goals.
Swayman had some words for his team after getting the hook 👀 pic.twitter.com/E1zwM1kAn3
Sturm voiced his pleasure with Swayman’s comments, saying “at least one guy” had some fire on Sunday.
Swayman was hung out to dry in Game 4. Alex Tuch picked off Fraser Minten on the Sabres’ first goal, and an errant clearing attempt by Hampus Lindholm led to the Sabres’ second goal. Jordan Harris, in his first career playoff game, was hounded by Josh Doan, which led to the third goal. Jonathan Aspirot bumped Jason Zucker into Swayman, knocking him off balance before the fourth goal.
“Kudos to them, they do a good job of getting on us quick,” said Hampus Lindholm. “I feel like they had a lot of speed tonight. They came out on us quick. Something we have to look at to try to be a little stronger on pucks and kind of kill their speed a little bit to not play into their game.”
“I think we looked very disconnected, very spread out. One guy had the puck, and four guys kind of waited for something to happen instead of be available, want the puck, and demand it,” Elias Lindholm added. “Kind of snowballed from there.”
Sturm did not want to get into little details that caused the Bruins to struggle: “I can’t even go into the rush game, o-zone, d-zone. I really can’t, because in all areas we were just behind. And if emotionally, you’re not ready for it, it goes back to this; it doesn’t matter. Today, it didn’t matter. So I don’t talk about little details because they were not there today, unfortunately.”
After winning 29 home games in the regular season, tied for the most in the league, the Bruins have now dropped both playoff games on home ice. Now, it is up to them to decide if the TD Garden will host Bruins hockey again before the preseason gets underway in September.
“Yeah, it’s tough. You know, it’s one of those things where we have such a good home ice advantage with our fans and stuff, and then to come out the last couple and not be able to take advantage of that is tough,” said Morgan Geekie. “So I mean, not much more to say. Just frustrating, especially in the room. You know, we’re going back on the road, and we played well in Buffalo, so we’ll just try to get back to that.”
Geekie on dropping both home games: “Yeah, it’s tough. You know, it’s one of those things where we have such a good home ice advantage with our fans and stuff, and then to come out the last couple and not be able to take advantage of that is tough.” “I mean, not much more to… pic.twitter.com/Y2cfFN1Cm0
As they always do, the Bruins are looking ahead to Game 5. Though their backs are against the wall, they repeated that the series was not over after the game.
Even if they were embarrassed in front of their home crowd.
“At the end of the day, we have to move on, too,” Sturm said. “So yeah, I am embarrassed. We all should be. And we’re all pissed. And we will talk about it, but then we have to move on. As far as I know, you have to win four games to move on. So they got three. So that means we still have a chance.”
Marco Sturm: “We should be embarrassed because it was embarrassing.”“At the end of the day, we have to move on, too. So yeah, I am embarrassed. And we all should be. And we’re all pissed. And we will talk about it, but then we have to move on.”“As far as I know, you have to… pic.twitter.com/ZI5HMOfFDw
“Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think we kind of feel the whole series, you know, we have another gear in us. It can go quick if we don’t turn it on. So time is running,” David Pastrnak said. “We can be better as a team. But like I said, we’ve been through a lot this year as a group, and we believe in this group. So we have to do it together and get out there and get the win in Buffalo.”