Bruins 'In A Bit Of A Cloud,' But Chiarelli Sees Progress
BOSTON (CBS) – The Boston Bruins have tried almost everything to shake their Stanley Cup Hangover.
After a 3-5 start, GM Peter Chiarelli has seen signs of improvement, but is still looking for answers on how to shake the cloud over his team.
"I've talked to GM's, coaches, and players who have been through this. They have different stories but they all say there's something that happened that you can't avoid. Malaise is too strong a word, it's just a bit of a cloud right now and I know one team said it took them twenty games before they were back to normal," Chiarelli said on a conference call Tuesday night. "There's no easy answer and I'm not using it as a crutch. It's something that we expected and then we- in talking to the guys at the start of the year, we just have to deal with it."
Stats: Bruins 2011-12 Team Stats
"I haven't minded our game that much. I think our compete level is getting a little better; our execution is getting a little better," Chiarelli said. "We're still a little sloppy here and there but I have to stress that it's something that we have to work through. The expectations are high, but we also certainly expected this kind of thing and there's no- as we're finding out -there's no easy answer to it."
Inconsistent offence has been the Bruins biggest problem. While they are getting the chances, they are not putting the puck in the back of the net.
"To me that's a number of things; it's focus, execution, and compete to stay in, sometimes to get a chance you have to take a hit. To me that's the biggest thing that I'm seeing so it requires adjusting a couple of fronts that I have mentioned," said Chiarelli.
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On Monday, head coach Claude Julien set up scoring stations at practice, hoping that getting back to the basics will give his team a boost.
"I haven't minded our level of compete, I think it could be better and I think once that happens and once the focus comes back I think you're going to see our chances go in. You saw them go in the other night against Toronto but we had a chance in San Jose and I thought our level of compete was okay but it wasn't good enough though, because we lost the game," said Chiarelli. "But we did have a chance though so, to me when I see, if I was to see our level of compete with no chances, I'd be a little more worried."
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"To me, there's still some inconsistency but as I said in a four or five game block, I see us coming around."
The Bruins had Tuesday off, but will hit the practice ice again on Wednesday as they get ready to host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
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