Senators Overrule Bruins...Again

Another game, another loss for the recently bumbling, stumbling Bruins. Tim Thomas was once again, in baseball terms, a pitcher with little run support. He has been a tough luck loser this season far too many times. He only gives up 2 goals, but gets 1 in return. It has gotten to the point that if the Bruins give up more than 2 goals, I feel like they cannot overcome it.

Positives to take out of this game:

1. Dennis Wideman - The Bruins defenseman bounced back after being booed by the Garden crowd Thursday. Wideman redeemed himself with an assist in 21:57 of ice time. He made a great play to break up a 2-1 in the second, and seemed to play with some confidence. The key is for him to play at that level consistently. Tomorrow's game against last place Carolina could be a good game for him to try to keep up the good play

2. Vladimir Sobotka - This kid has impressed me all season. He has been one of the only Bruins that I see playing with some emotion, some character night in and night out. Early in the first, he was willing to drop the gloves, but the men in stripes broke it up before it began. For someone who is only 5'11", 183 lbs, he plays like he 6'4" 220lbs. He has no fear of anyone, and is not afraid to do the dirty work in the corners, or in front of the net. He has a tenacity and an edge to his game that is very fun to watch. More players on the Bruins need to pick up their intensity to match Sobotka's feisty style of play.

As much as people say the Bruins need a goalscorer, (and believe me, I fully agree with that) I think what the Bruins need equally is a guy that riles up his team. Milan Lucic is still not back to his old form, even though he is back on the ice. This Bruins squad seems to be forgetting what made last year's team so successful, which is their toughness. Last year's team rolled 4 lines that all finished their checks, played very physically every shift, and were pains in the asses to play against. This year's team doesn't finish their checks, and frankly, aren't tough to play against. They need to rebuild that reputation of being Big and Bad. They need to re-instill that fear that they put into opposing teams, especially at home. I remember last season, going to every home game, and seeing so many wins. I rarely saw them lose at home. This season, they have lost so many games at home, and its only January. If they don't pick up their hitting, they will be knocked out of playoff contention soon.

A long overdue rant/post

Well, this has been long overdue. It has taken a recent stretch of poor play by my Bruins for me to finally get frustrated enough with this current Bruins squad and to restart my blog/site. I don't even know where to begin. So many thoughts on this team, my mind is racing. I guess I'll start with tonights loss to the Blue Jackets.

The Bruins lost tonight to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the last place team in the Western Conference's Central Division, 3-2 in front of a sold out home crowd of 17,565 at the TD Garden. After going up 1-0 and 2-1, I figured they had a good shot of finally winning a game. Going into the 3rd up 2-1, they had some golden opportunities early in the 3rd, but couldn't put the biscuit in the basket. And with the recent trend of blowing a 3rd period lead in my mind, I didn't have a good feeling as the period went on. Sure enough, the Blue Jackets tied the game up 2-2.

Now many people will point to the controversial penalty call against the Bruins late in the 3rd period as the reason they lost the game. Milan Lucic got called for a double minor high sticking penalty as Dewick Brassard went down holding his face. After seeing the replay, it was a bad call. His own teammate Anton Stralman was the one that hit him. In any case, the Bruins were on the penalty kill, and Columbus scored the go ahead goal with less than a minute and a half left. The Bruins had one last rush at the end still shorthanded with Rask pulled, but Mason shut the door on the goal and held on for the win.

Despite the bad call, this was not the reason the Bruins lost tonight. There were mental lapses in the defensive zone, the passing was out of sync, the breakout from their own end is too predictable, the top players aren't playing up to their ability. A perfect example of this is Dennis Wideman.

This was his first game since being called out publicly by Claude Julien, and he did not look good at all. He coughed up the puck in the 1st period which led to the Blue Jackets first goal. He looked shaky all night, made questionable passes, and just doesn't have his confidence/swagger that he had last season. This was the first time in a long time that I can remember, where the Boston fans were booing one of their own players. Everytime Wideman touched the puck, the boo birds were out. My personal opinion is that I wish we never traded Brad Boyes for Dennis Wideman. Brad Boyes, although under performing this season, has been a heck of a player. In 82 games played last year, he went 33G-39A-72Pts and the year before that he went 43G-22A-65pts. If the Bruins still had him, and stuck him with Patrice Bergeron, they would have a legitimate scoring line.

Besides this game, what is really ailing this Bruins team? Where do I begin? I'll just go down a list I guess...

1. Injuries:
Yes, every team goes through injuries, so it shouldn't really be an excuse. However, this team has been particularly unlucky this season. I cannot recall the last time I have seen so many Providence Bruins up in Boston. Not just now, but all season. Losing top players not only hurts because they are your top players, but it also hurts because line chemistry is always being changed every few games. It is hard for players to get used to their line mates if they are being shuffled around all the time.

2. Underachieving players:
Many players on this roster are not living up to their contracts/billing. Michael Ryder is not playing like a 4 million dollar sniper like he was supposed to be. David Krejci has fallen back to earth after last season. Marco Sturm, expected to produce more with the dealing of Phil Kessel, has not done so. Tim Thomas, last years Vezina trophy winning goaltender, has had some bad games, and given up many soft goals over the season. Zdeno Chara is not living up to his Norris trophy form of last season. Combine all these things, plus the lack of a true sniper and its not hard to see why this team is where it is.

3. Lack of Offense/Phil Kessel:
Phil "The Thrill" Kessel was my favorite player on the Bruins when he was here, so this may seem biased, but I'll try to be fair. He has pure sniper talent. There is a reason he was selected #5 overall in his draft class. He scored 36 goals last season. Every season his production went up. When he was dealt away, everyone thought that with Marco Sturm coming back, and everyone else producing like they did last season, that they would not miss Phil Kessel.

WRONG!

Players like Phil Kessel come few and far between. He has the ability to make his own space on the ice, he backs defenders up with his speed, and makes other teams focus on him, which leaves his teammates open. The Bruins do not have a replacement for that. He is only 22 years old, and has so much untapped potential. This move by the Bruins will hurt them, unless they can somehow snag Taylor Hall in the draft, or get another sniper with Toronto's first pick that they got in the Kessel trade. Now people will say that it was all about the money. I think he did get too much from Toronto, but regardless, the Bruins should have found a way to keep him. As much as I like David Krejci, I would have signed Kessel first over Krejci, simply because the Bruins have more depth down the center down I-95 in Providence.

4. Last season was an anomaly:
The Bruins last season were firing on all cylinders. It seems like everyone had a career year. They steamrolled through the regular season only to fall short in the 2nd round vs Carolina. It seems like they were too high on themselves coming into this season, because with relatively the same team, you would expect this team to replicate the success they had last season. That is simply not the case, and one could argue that last season, everything just fell into place. Are the Bruins as good as last years team. I say no. However, are they as bad as this years team? I don't think so either. Before the season started, I figured the Bruins would win the Northeast division, and be top 3 in the East. But with the way this team has performed, or even underperformed as of late, I am starting to worry about this team's chances in the playoffs, or even making the playoffs.

After all that being said, there is a light at the end of this tunnel the Bruins have gone down:

The Olympic break.

If the Bruins can somehow manage to just stay .500 going into the Olympic break, they could potentially all be healthy, and get geared up for a late push heading into the playoffs. I have not lost faith on this team, I never do. Unless they are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, then they are still in it. But the time is now. They have to pull themselves together, look around the locker room and fix this sinking ship of a season. This has been a hell of a long post/rant, but I feel better getting it out there. I know i missed so many things I wanted to write about, but oh well. I'm tired and want to go to bed. Leave a comment or response to anything I wrote, or forgot to write. I'd love to hear your analysis on this team.

-Rupam