Swayman yanked, 1st period disaster and more: 3 reasons why Boston Bruins lost 6-3 to Ottawa Senators

The Boston Bruins continue to struggle this season, dropping a lopsided 6-3 decision to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre. The loss snapped the Bruins' two-game winning streak, while the Senators have now won five in a row.

Casey Mittelstadt, David Pastrnak and Marat Khusnutdinov scored for the Bruins. Meanwhile, Drake Batherson scored twice for the Ottawa Senators, with Shane Pinto, Tyler Kleven, Ridly Greig and Claude Giroux scoring for Ottawa.

Here’s a closer look at three reasons why the Boston Bruins lost to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

3 reasons why Boston Bruins lost 6-3 to Ottawa Senators

#3. Lack of depth scoring

The Bruins failed to get scoring beyond their top two lines. David Pastrnak and newcomer Casey Mittelstadt got on the board. Beyond that, Marat Khusnutdinov, who skated on the third line with Elias Lindholm and Jakub Lauko, managed to get on the board.

However, the Bruins lacked any sort of depth scoring which could have helped close the gap against Ottawa. In the end, the Bruins managed three goals, but given their defensive woes, it wasn’t enough to pull out the victory.

Moving forward, the Bruins hope that their third and fourth lines can chip in offensively as the Bruins look to salvage what they can from their season.

#2. First-period disaster

Boston fell into an early hole, down 4-1 as it headed into the first intermission. The three-goal deficit was too much to overcome despite Pastrnak making it 4-2 early in the second.

The Senators pulled away with Batherson’s second of the night to make the game 5-2 midway through the second period. The Bruins added one more to cut the deficit to two goals. However, the two-goal margin was too much for the Bruins to overcome.

In the end, Claude Giroux added an empty-netter to seal the victory for the Senators on home ice.

#1. Swayman yanked

In a disappointing turn of events, starting netminder Jeremy Swayman got the hook during the first intermission. Swayman allowed four goals on 15 shots in the opening frame.

It’s worth pointing out that the Bruins' first-period disaster included getting outshot 15-4. So, it’s unfair to pin the entire blame on Swayman’s shoulders. Given the way things went for the Bruins on Thursday night, coach Joe Sacco felt a change in the crease was necessary to stop the bleeding.

Jonas Korpisalo allowed one goal on 15 shots in relief, but the damage had already been done.

The Bruins will look to bounce back when they hit the ice again on Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden.