The Boston Bruins set out on this current, pivotal three-game road swing hoping to bank at least three points out of an available six points while fighting to hold onto their current wild-card playoff spot in the East.
The Black and Gold accomplished that reasonable goal while ultimately falling in a 4-3 overtime decision to the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on Monday night after blowing a 2-0 lead after the first period of play. Truthfully, David Pastrnak turned in a superstar performance to earn the B’s a point by scoring a pair of goals, including a toe-drag beauty weaving through Devils defenders before beating Jakob Markstromfive-hole with a backhanded bid.
Pastrnasty pic.twitter.com/ZQdqK7Nbio— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) March 17, 2026
“We knew coming in it was going to be a hard road trip, but we got a point [in the OT loss] and that’s big for us,” said Marco Sturm, as they prep for the back-to-back date against the Habs in Montreal on Tuesday night. “We just need to try and get some rest and get [ready for] a good one [in Montreal].
Pastrnak was creating chances all night, finishing off plays at a time when the B’s are starved for goals and just hustling to make certain that the Bruins salvaged something in Jersey for their efforts while stepping up to the role of team leader on the bench.
“This guy, he gave us everything he had…not just because he scored two goals, [but because] he was the driver, he was good on the bench, he was pushing guys,” said Sturm, effusive in his praise for No. 88 in a superstar-type effort on the road. “For me he was by far the best player on the ice.”
All of that leaves the Bruins still clinging tightly to the second wild card slot two points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, but just one point behind the Detroit Red Wings (for the top wild card slot) and the Montreal Canadiens (for the third spot in the Atlantic Division) team that they’re visiting on the final stop of their three-game road swing.
Taking five out of six road points would be a massive step toward locking in a playoff spot while really putting to bed any talk about struggles on the road.
“I always try to look positive. I am a positive guy pretty much always. We have three out of four points on the trip and we go into Montreal,” said David Pastrnak. “It’s going to be a fun game and there should be no question that there’s enough motivation for that [road] game in Montreal. We win and we are talking about a really, really good trip.”
Certainly, the elevated play of Pastrnak, the continued development of 21-year-old Fraser Minten as a No. 1 center and the spirited play of fourth line grinders like Mark Kastelic– with a pair of fights in New Jersey – have been sources of optimism for the Bruins.
Great tilt from Mark Kastelic and Brendan Dillon 🥊#NHLBruins | #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/btpN11fkxR— Missin Curfew (@MissinCurfew) March 16, 2026
But there have been some concerning trends of late as well when it comes to the B’s play since coming out of the Olympic break.
Jonathan Aspirot has experienced some low moments defensively in recent games and he was on ice for several goals against while in a top pairing with Charlie McAvoy (minus-2), who hit a post in overtime and then wiped out catching an edge to help set up the Devils' game-winning goal. McAvoy has been mostly excellent as of late, but some of the high-risk offensive choices are coming back to bite the Bruins at key points in games.
And a couple of second-period turnovers from Victor Arvidsson and McAvoy at the B’s offensive blue line immediately fed into an electric Jack Hughes(three assists) and the speedy Devils going on the attack and scoring goals. It was not Boston’s preferred style of game at all and going down that path is going to lead to subpar results for a team built on defense, structure, special teams and grinding it out.
“It’s frustrating because the way we came out in the first period was so good, and then the way we came out and played in the second, for me, that’s night and day,” said Sturm. “When you play that way, that’s what you get. The second period really bothered me. We want to be a good team and we have a lot of goals [for our team to achieve], but when you do that…you just can’t. We’ve got to learn from it.
“It’s exactly what we talked about between periods and we [turned it over at the blue line] right away, right away. And then they scored twice. Those are the frustrating moments that we have to handle better, especially on the road. Jersey is just looking for that kind of stuff and they’re good at [making you pay].”
Speaking of special teams, the Bruins have only three power play goals scored since the Olympic break amidst the first real PP struggles of the season. It has dropped the B ‘s all the way down to 8th in the NHL with a 23.5 percent power play success rate after they had consistently been in the top-5 pretty much all season.
That has fed into Boston’s offensive struggles over the last month since the NHL regular season resumed, and it could ultimately be the B’s undoing down the stretch if they can’t straighten out the chaotic zone entries and rushed puck movement in zone under greater pressure from opposing penalty kills.
Most of the recent B’s flaws deserve greater investigation as they’ve been exposed by the elevated level of intensity for stretch run games with valuable playoff-spot points on the line, but the good news is that they can still be tweaked while the Bruins still hold the upper hand for postseason positioning.
But Monday night in New Jersey was a prime example that things need to tighten up for the Bruins even as they achieved their overall goal for this three-game road trip during the middle portion of it.
