Pastrnak, Marchand shut out, special teams fail and more: 3 reasons why Boston Bruins were shut out 2-0 by Vancouver Canucks

The Boston Bruins were shut out on Tuesday night at TD Garden by the Vancouver Canucks. The Bruins were coming off two straight wins following Joe Sacco’s promotion to interim head coach. However, they could not pull off a third straight win, with the Canucks handing Sacco his first loss as Bruins coach.

Jake DeBrusk scored the game-winner at 5:53 of the second period, a power play tally. Conor Garland added an empty-netter with about 13 seconds left in the game while Kevin Lankinen made 32 saves for the shutout.

Here’s a closer look at three reasons why Boston was shut out by Vancouver on Tuesday.

3 reasons why Boston Bruins were shut out by Vancouver Canucks

#1. Bruins couldn’t get past Canucks’ defense

The Canucks played a solid defensive game despite giving up 32 shots. However, the most telling statistic in the game was the Canucks’ 26 blocked shots to the Boston Bruins’ 11. That notable difference made up for the lopsided shot count.

The Bruins outshot the Canucks 32-15, but just couldn’t make much of their opportunities to beat Kevin Lankinen and the Canucks' defense. Vancouver focused on playing a tight-checking game, keeping Boston’s shots as mostly low-danger chances.

#2. Bruins’ special teams failed

The Boston Bruins’ special teams were the story of the night. The power play went 0-for-3. The lack of success with the man advantage played a significant role. Had the Bruins connected at least once, the game could have ended much more differently.

The game was a one-goal affair down to the wire. With a power play tally, the Bruins could have sent the game to overtime where they could have gotten at least a point. That wasn’t the case and the Bruins lost the game.

Additionally, the penalty kill failed to do its job. The Canucks went 1-for-2 on the power play, with DeBrusk's power play tally being the game-winner. As such, the combination of an ineffective power play and a poor penalty kill explains why the Bruins were unable to get anything going on Tuesday night.

#3. Pastrnak and Marchand were shut out

The Bruins’ top scorers failed to register on the scoresheet again. David Pastrnak, the Bruins’ best scorer, went silent on the night. Pastrnak had three shots on goal, failing to make any one of them count. It’s worth pointing out that Pastrnak played a team-high 21:08 among forwards. However, that was not enough to get on the board.

Meanwhile, Bruins captain Brad Marchand registered six shots on goal. But like Pastrnak, the shots didn’t count as none went in the back of the net. Other key offensive players like Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha also failed to get on the scoresheet.

The Bruins won’t have much time to regroup as they face the New York Islanders next at UBS Arena on Wednesday. Both clubs will be looking to get back on track following losses in their last games.