One Point Away...
One point away… I have a feeling we'll be hearing that phrase quite a few times over the next few weeks with regards to this current Bruins team. Saturday night they got one, very important, point in the 3-2 shootout loss to the Kings, moving us up to 9th place in the Eastern Conference. However the Flyers won their game moving them up to 6th and the Canadiens got one point in an OT loss, to the still-on-fire Senators, keeping the Habs just ahead of the Bruins in 8th. (wins on Sunday for the Rangers & Panthers have also shifted the standings since then)
But since I'm in a "keeping it positive" kind of mood, let's reflect on some of the good things that came out of this game…
The Bruins are getting more healthy players back each passing day. This is huge in terms of the team's consistency. It's very hard to develop any kind of rhythm or chemistry with your line mates when the deck keeps getting shuffled due to somebody else getting injured and having to sit for an extended period of time. So getting back Marco Sturm and Steve Begin is a big check in the plus column. Both players were two of the hardest skaters on the ice Saturday. Sturm's goal was not only a display of his great offensive intelligence but also an amazing amount of patience as he drew the defenseman out of position, picked his spot, and fired a wrister past King's goaltender Jonathan Quick.
The players' intensity seemed higher then I've seen in a number of weeks. The majority of them were more aggressive in the physical game then they'd been and appeared to be skating with a purpose, creating more up ice rushes.
So, again the question of the day is, what will it take for the Bruins to start putting a few wins up? Goals. It's as simple as that, they need to put the biscuit in the basket… and more then once or twice a game. The team does need to make a deal for a quality goal scorer, but they also have a number of players that need to start pulling their own weight. So unless some huge shake up comes before Tuesday's game against the Capitals, who are coming into Boston on a 10-game winning streak, we're going to need some of that weight to be pulled very quickly.
