BOSTON – The Bruins certainly had no shortage of offensive opportunities in their home game against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.

Boston put 32 shots on Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen and earned three power-play opportunities. Those chances didn’t result in a single goal in a 2-0 loss to Vancouver in another rematch of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals.

The Bruins haven’t scored more than two goals in a game since their 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues. Boston dropped its first game since interim head coach Joe Sacco took over for Jim Montgomery, leaving the club with a priority for the future.

“I thought we looked good tonight,” Charlie McAvoy said. “It stings now. … You have to (believe) that at some point the dam will break. Hopefully soon. We have to keep playing the right way.”

Former Bruin Jake DeBrusk thought Boston beat Vancouver on that side of the puck Tuesday night, just as McAvoy did.

“Other than that we played pretty well,” said McAvoy. “We had more shots than them. I thought we played the game better. I thought we had more O-zone time. I thought we had more looks. We just didn’t score.”

The Bruins do the little things right to generate quality chances. Now they need to convert them to gain momentum under a new head coaching regime.

“I think it helped our offensive game,” McAvoy added. “We just can’t score.”

more tanning

One big takeaway as special teams, old friend Sink Bruins Vs. Canucks

by Tim Crowley
3 minutes reading

Here are more notes on Tuesday’s Canucks-Bruins game:

— The Bruins honored former Boston players in DeBrusk and Danton Heinen with video tributes and an ovation from the crowd at their respective returns.

– Vancouver’s defense got physical to support Lankinen’s excellent goaltending with 25 blocked shots against Boston. The Bruins knocked down 11 shots defensively in the loss.

— Jeremy Swayman allowed just one goal that night and attributed his recent changes to an in-season “mini-training camp” with Bruins goaltending coach Bob Essensa.

— The Canucks continued their dominant start to the season, improving to 8-1-0 outside Vancouver. DeBrusk also scored all six of his goals on the road this season.

— DeBrusk scored the first goal of the game to cap what he described as a “weird” return to Boston against the Bruins.

— The Bruins return to action Wednesday night at UBS Arena against the New York Islanders. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 PM ET. You can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.