Bruins Recap - Week Ending December 14th, 2025: Winning streak snapped; Pastrnak, McAvoy return

In an otherwise positive road trip that saw Boston extend its winning streak to four games - Sunday's runaway loss (6-2) in Minnesota left a sour taste, along with a humble reminder of just how thin Boston's margin for error can be both on the ice and in the standings.

Following a pair of multi goal wins in St. Louis (5-2) and Winnipeg (6-3), the Bruins found themselves alone in 2nd place in the Atlantic Division in both points (38), and points percentage (.594).

Their 19 wins was most in the division, and tied for most in the conference.

However one game later, after suffering just their first loss since December 2nd, Boston has now dropped to 4th in the division in both points (38), and points percentage (.576).

And while a wildcard team in points, they are technically a non playoff team on points percentage.

Meanwhile, Boston is still merely a win and one Tampa Bay Lightning loss away from being 1st in the division.

That's how tight the standings are.

As mentioned, it was an overall good week for the Bruins prior to their loss in Minnesota.

Having gone 3-2-0 without both David Pastrnak, and Charlie McAvoy in the lineup - both top players returned to game action on Boston's most recent road trip.

Pastrnak entered the lineup against the Blues and produced right away collecting 3 assists.

No. 88 kept the good times rolling in Winnipeg tallying another 2 assists to go along with 2 goals - giving him a total of 7 points in his first two games back.

Speaking of Winnipeg, McAvoy made his return against the Jets after missing 11 games due to a linear fracture from catching a slap shot to the left side of his face in Montreal.

The Bruins top defensemen didn't skip a beat registering 24:14 time on ice, recorded an assist, and was one of the Bruins best players from start to finish.

Despite riding a four game win streak and playing a strong brand of hockey, the cards seemed a bit stacked against the Bruins heading into Sunday's game against the Wild.

Minnesota was just Boston's 3rd game of what was an 8 calendar day road trip.

Adding to the difficulty of an abnormal road schedule is that the Wild have been playing some of the best hockey in the league for a while now as indicated by their 15-3-2 record since the start of November heading into Sunday - now 16-3-2.

Oh, and by the way ...

Minnesota traded for Quinn Hughes over the weekend - adding arguably the best defensemen in the world to their lineup just in time to showcase his talents against the Bruins.

Hughes' Wild debut went exactly as expected.

The U.S. born alternative version of Cale Makar scored a nail in the coffin goal early in the 3rd period, was dangerous all game and logged nearly 27 minutes of time on ice.

The Bruins on the other hand didn't bring their game and simply were not sharp.

They had a decent enough start to the game territorially but couldn't capitalize on an early shot advantage.

Minnesota went 2-for-2 on their first two power plays of the game and really never looked back from there after making it 3-0.

Boston's penalty kill (81%) has taken a step back over the last little while falling outside of the top ten in the league at No. 16 overall.

And while Sunday was only the Bruins third loss since American Thanksgiving - poor penalty killing and, or, sub par goaltending has been a theme in each loss.

The New York Rangers went 2-for-3 on the power play in a 6-2 win over the Bruins on November 28th.

The Detroit Red Wings went 1-for-3 in a 5-4 win over Boston on December 2nd in a game where Jeremy Swayman was pulled.

So it's really no secret what the difference is between winning and losing for the Bruins.

They - perhaps more than some deeper rosters - need high end goaltending and special teams play if they want to win hockey games.

When they don't get that, they struggle - as do and would most teams - but the Bruins are certainly no exception.

Looking ahead, the Bruins will look to feast off of some home cooking for the holidays.

They have a five game home stand beginning on Tuesday night when they welcome the Utah Mammoth to TD Garden.

From there, Boston will play host to the Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Ottawa Senators, and Montreal Canadiens leading up to Christmas.