Ladies and gentlemen, your Boston Bruins!
Remember how excited everyone was to hear that at the beginning of the season? The banner raising, the celebration of the Cup victory, and looking forward to a possible repeat. Then came the 3-7 start, and everyone was calling for Chiarelli to clow up the team. Many of us fans, including myself, had patience (although I did think a trade was necessary), and the team came around, dominating the league and winning 10 games in a row. And when I say dominated, I mean they literally blew everyone out of the water. During that stretch, they averaged 4.7 goals per game and only allowed an average of 1.7 goals per game. That's just utter domination. They continued to play well up until the game in January against Vancouver, and at that point things turned very sour very quickly. Poor effort, sloppy play, and lack of focus has led to the Bruins inconsistency in winning games. Many people thought that the acquisitions of Brian Rolston, Mike Mottau, and Greg Zanon would give guys the boost they need, adding much needed depth as well as creating job competition. There's just one problem with that though. Although Rolston has been in the lineup every day since coming over from the Islanders, he's been a non factor, and Zanon and Mottau have been taking turns playing "Who can suck more than Corvo?". They're not the only players at fault though. Top defenseman and Captain Zdeno Chara has looked gassed for almost a month now, guys like Milan Lucic bring their A game every so often and then disappear for a while, and the man who's supposed to the go to goalie and the one you rely on, Tim Thomas, looks fatigued and just flat out disinterested.
The shameful thing about this is that the Bruins have strayed away from their game, the "bust your ass and use intimidation to your advantage" style, that made them so successful during last year's Cup Run and during their two months of utter domination. They've played sloppy, they've tried to be far too cute with the puck, they come out with very lackluster efforts, and they're making excuses (See: Tim Thomas "the lighting in MSG is pretty bad, I couldn't see the puck").
Last week, they strung together two wins in a row for the first time in over a month, and it seemed that perhaps maybe they were finally turning things around. They traveled to New York for a big matinee match up against the Rangers and came out completely flat. Tim Thomas gave up soft goal after soft goal, and afterwards couldn't take accountability for his poor play. instead, he came up with the excuse that the lighting in Madison Square Garden is fairly poor and therefore he couldn't see the puck. Earth to Timmy! Lundqvist plays there for half of the regular season, and then some extra games in the playoffs. He doesn't seem to have much trouble seeing the puck with the poor lighting. You shouldn't either.
The next day they had another important game, this time in Pittsburgh. Not only did the Bruins come out flat, but they remained flat and made it look like the Penguins were scrimmaging a CHL team. The top line of Krejci - Lucic - Seguin had a good game, but they can't provide all of the offense, and not only that, but they can't play all of the defense. They're not on the ice at all times, and the other 3 lines and all of the defensive pairings need to play up the level they're capable of playing at.
Coaching is starting to become a problem as well. With the injury to Tuukka Rask, the Bruins signed free agent veteran goaltender Marty Turco to a one year deal to backup Thomas. The consensus assumption was that the workload for Thomas would be the same. Instead, Julien sends Thomas out there for eight straight games, including back to back matinees. After the first period, Thomas had to be pulled due to the soft goals he was giving up and his clear disinterest in what was going on. Turco came in in the second period and played very well, making all the saves Thomas wouldn't have, including one save that he very clearly pulled straight out of his ass. He did give up two goals, but those goals were on the defense, not him.
The injury bug has now bitten the Bruins as well, and it has bitten very hard. The Bruins left Pittsburgh with eight injured players: Benoit Pouliot, Daniel Paille, Adam McQuaid, Tuukka Rask, Nathan Horton, Rich Peverley, Patrice Bergeron, and Providence call up Maxime Sauve. When the Bruins are fully healthy, they are a dangerous team with a very good defense and a potent offense when playing at their peak. But, with eight players injured, it's hard to play well when you have a major lack of depth in your minor league system. With Ottawa creeping up on the Bruins in the Northeast Divison, it's a very real possibility that the Bruins fall out of the top 3 and down into the bottom 3, where they will have to fight for their playoff lives, and I personally am not sure they would make the playoffs in that case.
The frustration is mounting in fans, and it's only a matter of time before this team either picks it up and gets back to their normal play or completely implodes and falls out of playoff contention.
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