3 takeaways as Bruins fall 6-4 to Maple Leafs, lose third straight

Bruins

Boston chased Saturday’s game the entire 60 minutes, and gave up too many chances in the loss.

Following a 6-4 loss to Toronto in which the Bruins never held a lead and gave up far too many chances, Boston has now lost three straight games and four of its last five. And while Saturday saw an improvement in the scoring department, the Bruins had their backs against the wall for too long to be deserving of a win on the road.

After falling behind 2-0 early in the second period, Boston showed some life, getting one goal back just 12 seconds later courtesy of Morgan Geekie. Before the second period ended, Trent Frederic found the tying goal, and breathed new life into the Bruins.

That moment was short-lived. Boston gave up a goal to Matthew Knies — who finished Saturday’s game with a hat trick and five points — early in the third period.

This time David Pastrnak was able to gain the equalizer, coming up with a steal in Toronto’s own zone and ripping a shot past Joseph Woll on a pretty play.

That was the last time Boston was ever truly close to winning on Saturday. Toronto grabbed the lead again later on, tacked on an empty-netter and then after one more goal from Pastrnak, the Maple Leafs scored a second empty net goal to seal the deal for good.

“We were not hard enough in certain areas of the game tonight,” interim coach Joe Sacco said after the game. “It’s tough to play catch up hockey. But it’s 2-2 going into the third. We have two mistakes … two breakdowns that they capitalize on.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

The Bruins need more out of Jeremy Swayman.

Jeremy Swayman certainly had his work cut out for him on Saturday, and the Bruins didn’t do the best job defending the net around him. However, Boston should be able to rely on their All-Star netminder for a few bailouts on defensive miscues. And Swayman did not answer that bell against the Maple Leafs.

Swayman’s final stat line: four goals allowed on 27 shots, 23 saves. Good for a subpar .867 save percentage. Swayman entered Saturday with an .893 save percentage, which is 38th in the league, behind even his own backup Joonas Korpisalo, and fifth worst in the NHL among goalies with 20 or more starts.

Of course, a part of that is residual effect of Boston’s early season struggles. And Swayman himself got off to a slower start after his contract dispute caused him to miss Bruins’ training camp. Still, for a goaltender now making over $8 million per year, Swayman hasn’t quite been the stud in net that Boston hoped to see continue over from last year’s breakout season.

Having a hot goaltender is key for most teams heading into the playoffs, and Swayman will need to reignite his game if Boston hopes to get back into the postseason — and be competitive in it.

David Pastrnak might have found his groove.

The Bruins superstar goal-scorer hasn’t been his usual self for much of this season, but David Pastrnak may have found his groove again despite the loss Saturday.

Pastrnak’s overall point total through 40 games is nowhere near where it has been the last two seasons, and he’s on pace for his lowest goal output since his second year in the NHL. For a Boston team struggling to put points on the board this year, they need their top scorer to reclaim his throne.

Against Toronto, Pastrnak recorded his first multi-goal game of the year. Of course, one game is an extremely small sample size, but Saturday provided a taste of the version of Pastrnak Boston has grown accustomed to. Scoring goals often and at a high level.

If there’s anything that can be taken from the tough road loss, it’s that Pastrnak can still change the momentum of any game with the puck on his stick. The overall result wasn’t there on Saturday, but the formula still works.

Now, Pastrnak is at 40 points in 41 games. It’s still a far cry from his back-to-back seasons with 110 and 113 points, but a point per game is more than serviceable and will only continue to rise if Pastrnak returns to his score-first ways.

Morgan Geekie isn’t missing a beat in the top six.

Morgan Geekie is catapulting himself up the Bruins’ line chart, and proving he has every right to stay there.

A bottom-six mainstay last season, Geekie is getting time on Boston’s second line this year. He lined up on the wing alongside Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha on Saturday and looked very comfortable with that group.

The play that ultimately led to Geekie’s goal proved exactly why the 26-year-old deserves to stay in the rotation of the top six forwards. First, Geekie applied pressure behind Toronto’s net and delivered a hit that helped Boston regain possession of the puck. He then flashed in front of Woll, screening the goalie enough to create chaos in front.

Then, the icing on the cake, Geekie found a sweet spot on the back post and positioned himself perfectly for a tap-in goal when the puck slid across the crease. Not bad for five seconds of hockey.

Geekie is up to 17 points on the year (9 goals, 8 assists). He’s currently just shy of his point-per-game pace from last season even while the Bruins are scoring fewer goals and losing more games than the previous year, and while he’s seeing time against more high-end opposing skaters than he was previously.

Boston will have a quick turnaround and look to snap its three game skid against the New York Islanders on Sunday evening.