Kalman: Even In Win Vs. Leafs, Bruins' Lackluster Play Troubling
BOSTON (CBS) -- April is a short month as far as NHL regular-season games.
So the Bruins didn't have much time to lay their monthly egg against a miserable, lottery-bound team.
Luckily for them, when that egg hatched they still got a win instead of their usual shootout loss.
Patrice Bergeron worked some rare shootout magic to make sure Boston's latest lackluster performance against a glorified American Hockey League team resulted in two points.
Bergeron, who also scored in regulation, beat Toronto goaltender James Reimer in the third round for the only goal of the shootout to send the Bruins to a 2-1 victory at TD Garden on Saturday.
The win kept the Bruins, who have won five in a row, even with Detroit Red Wings for third place in the Atlantic Division and three points ahead of the Ottawa Senators in the race for an Eastern Conference wild card. The Bruins also improved to 4-9 in shootouts.
But these duds the Bruins keep producing against teams that have nothing to play for is troubling as the Bruins head into the final three games of the regular season with their postseason hopes on the line.
After outshooting the Maple Leafs 50-28 and just settling for a shootout victory, the Bruins drew comparisons between this game and the shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres on March 17.
"Those are, no matter what team I think, no matter what team there is, those are always tough games to play," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "They come in here, they've got nothing to lose except a lot to gain by being spoilers. Then all of a sudden you've got a lot of opportunities, their goaltender is starting to feel it, he feels invincible, and then you're trying to put pucks past him. There's no doubt, in the third period, even in the second half of the third they're just playing, saying 'let's go win this game.' While we're saying, 'we can't afford to lose this.' Although you're trying to win, there's a lot more pressure on our team than there was on theirs."
If these pressure-packed performances caused the Bruins to play poorly once or twice, you might not worry. But then you look back at the loss Feb. 18 against lowly Edmonton and the Jan. 4 loss at Carolina and you wonder why the Bruins are constantly letting these second-level teams push them to a shootout – where we know the Bruins struggle and even the best teams have just a coin-flip chance of prevailing.
With the exception of the Hurricanes game, those contests all had something in common other than losses to teams that didn't need the extra point. The Bruins greatly outshot the Oilers, Sabres and Maple Leafs. But they couldn't finish. Julien proffered that the Bruins often try to get too cute and there's no doubt that was an issue against Toronto. Players looking for the extra pass instead of testing Reimer with a shot (I'm looking at you David Pastrnak and Ryan Spooner) and guys not stopping in front of the net to block the goaltender's view (that's you Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand and David Krejci).
When the Bruins have had lengthy winless stretches this season, they've looked entitled. And that's how they look when they have these games where they can't cash in at the offensive end. It's almost as though they believe they're on a higher plain than these lesser teams and don't have to work hard to score. The talent difference is undeniable. But it just means the Bruins don't have to work as hard to score as the Maple Leafs or others, but they still have to grind until the puck is in the back of the net.
The Senators will play their game in hand Sunday. The three-point lead could be trimmed after that because Ottawa plays in Toronto. The Bruins have three games left. One already will be against a team with little to play for because Florida, the opponent on Thursday, has been eliminated from contention. By the time the Bruins get to Tampa on Saturday, the Lightning could be locked into their playoff position as well.
It's up to the Bruins to avoid the lethargy that nearly cost them against Toronto and has beaten them against other dregs of the league.
"I think we've just got to focus on our game. Focus on ourselves," forward Chris Kelly said. "And we've kind of done that in the past. We don't want to look at the other team and see what they're playing for or what's at stake for them. We know what's at stake for us and we need to focus on playing our best hockey."
The Bruins have been far from their best lately. They played just solid period against Florida and Detroit and managed to pull of third-period comebacks. Then they squeaked out one against Toronto. This is the time the Bruins should be playing desperate hockey and they just can seem to sustain that type of play for 30 or 40 minutes, never mind 60.
The Bruins should be motivated by the standings and the desire to have games added to the schedule beyond April 11. Nothing and nobody should be taken lightly from here on out.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
