The good news: It’s taken almost two months for the Bruins to join the rest of the NHL and suffer their second regulation loss of the season.

The bad news: Both of those losses have come against the Red Wings, who, if the season ended today, would be the Bruins’ first-round opponent. (Oh my god, it’s last year all over again. Everybody PANIC.)

But as easy it is to panic over the B’s apparent kryptonite, there’s no denying that the Bruins helped their opponents Friday afternoon, with Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery saying that ‘about 90 percent’ of the B’s issues were self-inflicted ones in what finished as a 5-2 loss at TD Garden.

“The only part of our game that I thought was good was our breakouts,” Montgomery said after the loss. “Power play wasn’t good. Penalty kill wasn’t good. Not gonna win many games like that.”

• Perhaps the greatest issue for the Bruins in this one was their inability to build any sort of momentum and/or their ability to almost constantly kill their own momentum.

  When the Bruins finally put themselves on the board in the second period, the Bruins ‘built’ off that by committing to a parade to the penalty box. They then surrendered a goal mere seconds after a successful penalty kill, and when they were given a late-period power-play chance of their own, the Bruins failed to generate much of anything. And even when they made it a one-goal game once again, this time in the third period, the Bruins surrendered a goal less than a minute later and by all means put any hopes of a comeback to bed.

  Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars from a disjointed loss in Boston…

• No. 3 Star: Dylan Larkin

  

  Nov 24, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin (71) is congratulated at the bench after scoring during the third period at TD Garden. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)

• Timely goals are everything, and there’s no doubt that Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin scored thee timely goals of timely goals in this one, as it was Larkin’s power-play goal that silenced the TD Garden less than a minute after Danton Heinen brought ’em to life in the third period.

  DYLAN LARKIN! 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/mjoc6rCq22

  — Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 24, 2023

  The power-play goal re-established Detroit’s two-goal lead (the Bruins were completely deflated by that goal), and served as the highlight of an effort that saw Larkin generate a ton on Boston’s net, with a team-leading five shots on goal and seven shot attempts in almost 22 minutes of time on ice.

• No. 2 Star: Jake DeBrusk

  

  Nov 24, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Jake DeBrusk (74) looks for a rebound in front of Detroit Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso (35) at TD Garden. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)

• For the first time since Games 81 and 82 last year, and in what’s an absolutely welcomed sight for the Bruins, winger Jake DeBrusk has now scored goals in back-to-back games.

  And he’s doing it in vintage DeBrusk fashion. Elevated to the top power-play unit with James van Riemsdyk given the day off with this being the first leg of a traveling back-to-back, DeBrusk generated a second-chance look all on his own with a multi-whack look on Ville Husso, and tucked what appeared to be his third chance through Husso for his third goal of the season and Boston’s first goal of the afternoon.

  Jake DeBrusk gets Boston on the board with a powerplay goal. Goals in back-to-back games for DeBrusk #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/XT6RcwThEB

  — Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) November 24, 2023

  DeBrusk finished Friday’s loss with three shots on goal and had seven shot attempts in total.

  The Bruins are going to need more and more of that from No. 74.

• No. 1 Star: Alex DeBrincat

  

  Nov 24, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex DeBrincat (93) goes for a rebound in front of Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) during the second period at TD Garden. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)

• It doesn’t take much to spark a scorer like Detroit’s Alex DeBrincat.

  Bruins rookie Matt Poitras found that out the hard way when DeBrincat picked his pocket clean and stormed down on Jeremy Swayman for an all-alone, breakaway goal in the first period of Friday’s showdown.

  Perfect poke check, better finish 🚨
  
  DeBrincat with his 12th of the season pic.twitter.com/HuszAhHMiU

  — B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 24, 2023

  The goal was one of multiple gut punches the Wings landed on the Bruins in the victory, but this one felt especially heavy, as it put the Bruins in an 0-2 hole in a first period that actually saw them begin to get their legs by the end of it. These slow starts have been an obvious problem for the Bruins of late, but their ability to keep it close has been their saving grace. DeBrincat’s goal made that impossible in that opening frame.

  DeBrincat also came through with the secondary helper on the Robby Fabbri goal that made it 3-1, and the Red Wings held a 5-2 on-ice advantage in shots during DeBrincat’s five-on-five sample.

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