Day Filled with Adversity Ends in Loss for Bruins

BOSTON - The Bruins faced enough adversity over the course of 24 hours to last them an entire season.
On Monday evening, they found out that they would be without leading scorer Brad Marchand for three games after the winger was suspended by the National Hockey League for slew-footing Vancouver's Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Shortly thereafter, reports surfaced on social media that Jake DeBrusk had requested a trade from the Bruins over the weekend.
And when they reported to the rink on Tuesday morning, the Bruins were informed that head coach Bruce Cassidy had been placed into COVID-19 protocol.

"Everything happened really fast," said Taylor Hall. "You've got to adjust, and that's the world that we live in right now. That's the season and the league that everyone in the league has to go through that at some point this year. It doesn't seem like COVID's going away right now, and every team has had to battle through some things. Right now, that's some adversity that we have."
The disorder, however, did not stop there as the Black & Gold's day ended with a disappointing 2-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden. Red Wings blue liner Marc Staal potted the winner on a delayed penalty with 8:27 remaining in regulation.
"It's a night where you want to come away with a win, but there's obviously things that we could have done better to accomplish that," said Hall. "It's great to get that amount of shots and zone time and control the game like that, but it's the score at the end of the night that dictates how we're going to feel right now and the next day.
"Those are games on the schedule that when you play like that, you want to come away with points, and obviously, that's something we've got to do better. I feel like on the majority of nights during this season, we've controlled play and haven't had the record that we want."
The Bruins certainly controlled the play on Tuesday night, outshooting the Red Wings, 42-16, though many of Boston's chances came from the outside and failed to create second opportunities in front of Detroit goalie Alex Nedeljkovic. Their only breakthrough came at 6:20 of the third period when David Pastrnak blasted home a one-timer off of Hall's feed during a 5-on-3 advantage to tie the game, 1-1.
"I just think it's net front traffic," Hall said of what was missing offensively. "Kudos to their goalie, that's a good night for him. He saw a lot. That's how they play, right? They've committed to a defensive game where they box out, they let their goalie see shots and we didn't generate second chances and screens.
"I know that's cliché, but that's what you have to do, especially when you're down a skilled guy. Pucks haven't gone in for us this year really at all, so you have to work for it, you have to think lucky, and put yourself in good spots and eventually things will go in."
Despite missing Marchand - who paces the Bruins with 24 points in 18 games - assistant coach Joe Sacco believed the team was engaged in the game and generated more than enough offensive zone time to come away with a victory.
"I thought our guys were prepared to play tonight when the puck dropped," said Sacco. "I thought we were ready to play. I thought our guys had good jump. I thought the bench had good energy during the course of the game.
"Obviously, Brad provides an element to our team that we miss and are going to miss the next two games, no question. But I thought our group did a good job for the most part being ready to play. They were ready to play, and they had good intensity during the course of the game."

Sacco Mans the Bench

With Cassidy and assistant coach Chris Kelly in COVID-19 protocol, Sacco took over the primary coaching responsibilities during the game, while skating and skills coach Kim Brandvold joined Sacco and assistant coach Kevin Dean on the bench.
Sacco had not headed the bench since the 2018 preseason when the Bruins were split into two teams during the club's September trip to China. The Medford native oversaw the Boston contingent, while Cassidy led the team's delegation in Beijing and Shenzhen.
"I was rusty," said Sacco, who was the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche from 2009-13. "I think, once the puck drops and you start to look at certain matchups that you try to obtain, you just get out of things, and they kind of flow smoothly for you at that point. It's been a while, so I'll hopefully shake that rust off and be better next game."
Sacco added that the coaching staff is taking things "one game at a time" while they await Cassidy's return to the bench.
"We just hope Butch recovers and gets back here as soon as possible, but in the meantime, as a staff, we're just trying to do the best job that we can to prepare our team," said Sacco. "We have good structure in our group that's always been there, just trying to make sure our guys are prepared to play when the puck drops."
According to Sacco, that preparation still included Cassidy, who remained in constant contact with his staff throughout the day and played a major role in creating the game plan.
"We went over certain areas that we wanted to make sure were covered," said Sacco. "But once the puck drops, you have to coach the team that's in front of you and coach the game that's in front of you."

Hall Shifts to Top Line

Hall took the place of Marchand on the Bruins' top line and power-play unit and did not look out of place alongside Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak. The winger landed four shots on goal and after a nifty pump fake, delivered the primary feed to Pastrnak on his tying power-play tally in the third period.
"It was fun. Those are great players…I just tried to play without thinking and just tried to use my skill set to help them," said Hall. "Five-on-five, we didn't get anything. It looks good and everything. A lot of shots. A lot of chances. You'd almost rather have a small amount of chances and a goal and for us to come away with a point. We have to accomplish that as a line."
Sacco was pleased with the overall effort of the new-look top line and Hall's game, in particular.
"I liked it. I thought Taylor was skating well tonight," said Sacco. "He looked like he had some jump in his game tonight. He was certainly driving the opposition back with his speed through the neutral zone at times, trying to hang on to pucks. That line obviously had some good looks; they spent a lot of time in the offensive zone.
"I know we only got the one goal on the power play, but I think, overall, they had some good, quality chances…I thought [Hall] played pretty well tonight."

DeBrusk Addresses Team

Hall revealed following the loss that DeBrusk addressed the team on Tuesday morning in an effort to clear the air
after reports that he had requested a trade from the Bruins surfaced on Monday
. Hall added that he does not believe DeBrusk will be a distraction for the club.
"He just said, 'I love you guys, this is something in my career that - I'm at a crossroads,'" said Hall. "But he's not a distraction at all. It's almost better that it's out there, you have a day to digest that. Jake's a great kid. He's got a lot of skill and he's gonna have a good career in this league.
"As a group, as an organization, I think you deal with those distractions head on and you just go play the game. That's the culture, that's the model that we have. Whoever's in, you have to play well and that's what we said this morning. We expect Jake to play as well as he can, even under the circumstances."
DeBrusk, who was a healthy scratch on Sunday night, returned to the lineup against the Red Wings and played on a line with Erik Haula - who was also back in after a scratch vs. Vancouver - and Curtis Lazar. He landed one shot on goal in 10:25 of ice time.
"I thought Jake was OK," said Sacco. "I just go back to our team not being able to finish off some of our looks that we had in the offensive zone. I thought he was OK."