Bruins Notes: Joe Sacco Reveals Common Theme In Lopsided Loss

After losing a tight battle with a top Western Conference contender, the Boston Bruins dropped a dispassionate game to the lowly Nashville Predators at TD Garden on Tuesday night.

Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco didn’t mince words when he spoke with NESN’s Andy Brickley following Boston’s 6-3 lopsided loss.

“It started with puck management,” Sacco said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Too many turnovers. Gave them the puck to them way too often tonight. And then, not having the layers in the defensive zone, some missed assignments there and then we relied on our structure, and that got away from us there.”

The Bruins opened the scoring on Charlie Coyle’s 15th goal of the season at 4:25 of the first period, but Tommy Novak got the equalizer 67 seconds later. Nashville would add another goal for a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

Jordan Oesterle scored the equalizer just over five minutes into the second period, but once again, the Predators took the lead again — this time 1:17 later. The pattern continued of the Bruins tying the game when Morgan Geekie tallied his 20th goal of the season and then the wheels fell off. Nashville scored three unanswered goals to secure their seventh road win of the season.

“Momentum, right? I think that’s what you’re looking for,” Sacco said. “You get a big goal to tie the game, the crowd’s into it, and then, a couple of shifts later we give it up. But, we want to create momentum off that goal and continue to control the territory. We just mismanaged the puck too much tonight, and then some reads that led to breakdowns in the back of our net.”

Charlie Coyle echoed Sacco’s thoughts and brought up another common theme that has plagued the Bruins throughout the season.

“Just not ready to go, I guess,” Coyle said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I really don’t have too many answers, honestly. That’s just one of the parts of our game that aren’t up to par right now.

“Those are big moments in the games and can make a difference. We have to take ownership of that. No matter what’s going on in the game, whatever whistle happens, but especially after a goal, getting a goal, we need to bring that energy and that focus and come right back at it and show some life, and … we didn’t.”

Here are more notes from Tuesday’s Bruins-Predators game:

— After having his 17-game point streak snapped in Boston’s 1-0 shutout loss to the Minnesota Wild, David Pastrnak tallied two assists in the loss, which gave the Bruins the secondary scoring it had been lacking.

Pastrnak agreed with Coyle and Sacco’s takes.

“That’s tough, especially those goals we scored, tying goals in a tight game that we could have grabbed the momentum after our goals,” Pastrnak said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Unfortunately, we went the other way, and it’s not the first time this season, so it’s definitely a momentum killer.”

— Oesterle scored his first goal for the Bruins since signing a two-year, two-way contract with the club in the offseason.

Like his teammates, the journeyman defender didn’t celebrate the personal milestone.

“No excuse for the way we started,” he told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I think they came out and were way more desperate than us, and we have, indirectly, a lot more to play for right now. We’re fighting for our lives. So, it’s unacceptable, and we’ll have to be better.”

— The Bruins fell to 28-27-8 overall, 18-11-5 at home and 12-10-4 against Western Conference opponents.

— Boston heads out on a quick two-game road trip beginning Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop from Lenovo Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game on NESN after an hour of pregame coverage.