BOSTON — Josh Anderson said his team was “easy to play against.”
Captain Nick Foligno had even more choice words when it came to the Blue Jackets' ugly and embarrassing performance Monday night.
Foligno said he hasn’t been “this frustrated” after a loss in some time. The Jackets trailed by three midway through the second period and ended up losing 7-2 to the host Bruins.
The loss was the second by that score in a week; the Jackets took a similar five-goal loss at home to the Edmonton Oilers last Tuesday.
The anger was evident in Foligno’s words and stance standing inside a nearly empty visiting locker room.
“We did it the wrong way the whole game,” Foligno said. “It has been a while where I have been this disappointed in a game. Things happen, you can sometimes chalk it up to being flat.
“But the lack of emotion, the lack of care, that’s disappointing. We don’t use those words with this team very often. It doesn’t sit well with me.”
Coach John Tortorella said before the game his team needed to do more to be a “harder team to play against.”
The Jackets were not that Monday as the Bruins seemingly did what they wanted.
They had plenty of defensive lapses and didn’t do goalie Sergei Bobrovsky many favors. The first three goals by the Bruins came on passes so crisp Tom Brady would have cheered.
“This is a hard one to swallow,” Tortorella said. “We looked a little paralyzed. For what reason, I don’t know. We’re going to try and get better.”
The Bruins scored twice on power-play chances in the second period to make it 3-0, putting the Blue Jackets in a difficult position what with Tuukka Rask manning the opposing net.
“We were like deer caught in the headlights,” Foligno said. “I have no answer for it. I’m at a loss for words, and that doesn’t happen often. We failed miserably. … It was a very disappointing game for a team that usually finds a way to answer. That’s what I’m most disappointed about.”
The Jackets avoided the shutout midway through the third when Anderson made it 3-1 by scoring off a Alexander Wennberg feed from the board, yet the Bruins kept on coming.
“We were still in the game,” Anderson said, “and it got away from us.”
Boston made it a three-goal lead again with 7:30 remaining when Danton Heinen scored on a slap shot from the left circle off a slick feed from David Backes.
The Bruins poured it on in the latter moments of the third with Torey Krug, Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk each scoring within a three-minute span.
Seth Jones scored the Jackets’ second goal of the game in the final seconds — it was the lone bright spot in five power-play chances — but there would be no five-goal comeback forthcoming in those final 13 seconds.
“We have to get better, put some skin on ourselves here and take it right on the chin like we did here tonight,” Tortorella said. “We have to be better for our next game. That’s all we can do. Right through our lineup, we weren’t good and obviously this is the result. It’s one tick in the loss column.”
@GeorgeRichards