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Kalman: Chiarelli Sounds Like GM Who Doesn't Believe In Bruins' Slim Chances

BOSTON (CBS) -- Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli met with the media Friday in Tampa rather than subject his coaching staff or players -- who were given the day off -- to a grilling.

The Bruins lost Thursday night 4-2 to the Florida Panthers and are now on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff structure looking in with one game remaining in the regular season. They can't get into the playoffs without some help. Even with help, they'd then have to assist themselves and win a game against the powerhouse Tampa Bay Lightning, who still have a chance to win the Atlantic Division.

The odds are stacked against the Bruins. But there's still a chance they could get in. Chiarelli acknowledged the mathematical possibility of the season lasting beyond Saturday. But after that initial acknowledgment of his team still having life, the rest of Chiarelli's comments sounded like a guy expecting tee times on Monday. Although he several times wanted to postpone answering some questions until the season is officially over, he spoke like the GM of a non-playoff team.

"I consider it a failure and it's a failure on everybody's part," Chiarelli said. "But being a failure doesn't mean there has to be a complete overhaul of everything. Guys fail, teams fail and they get back on their horse. And so again, I consider it a failure but you don't always succeed in this business. You don't always hit the ball out of the park all the time and you've got to get back and do your job and we've shown we can do that. But right now, it's very disappointing."

Chiarelli sounded so negative, one has to think maybe he's trying to manipulate his players before what could be – with some help from the Philadelphia Flyers beating the Ottawa Senators Saturday afternoon – the biggest game of the season.

Chiarelli bashed his offense.

"There's the actual getting the chance, which we've had an abundance of. There's the quality of chance. The quality of chance is judged by the location, right? But then there's the actual executing the chance," Chiarelli said. "And I think we've fallen short in that regard. And that to me is a number of things. It's actually executing, wanting to bury it. So that speaks to focus. There's a will that is involved in trying to put the puck through the back of the net. There's that killer instinct and we haven't had it. And I know we've lost a couple players from last year, but we've done a preliminary look at our chances and we're almost at the same number of chances. In or around the same number of, we call them, five-percent chances. And we're remarkably short of executing those chances. So sometimes it runs dry, sometimes it doesn't. And this year it's run dry. And there's reasons behind it and there's ways to fix it and we'll have to look at that. But that's been a frustrating part."

Then when prompted, he bashed the defense and transition game.

"Our game is predicated on strong defensive play and strong breakout. And one thing has to happen first before the next thing," the GM said. "So there's been a weak spot in the first part, the strong defensive play, so subsequently the breakout hasn't been the same. We've historically, I think, been one of the best breaking out teams in the league, and we haven't had that. So again, we've really got to dig deep, and if we don't make it we have to dig deep. Whatever, we have to dig deep, regardless as to these issues. And we will."

Chiarelli and the Bruins can't control what the Senators will do any more than they can control how the Pittsburgh Penguins, who could also fold and open an opportunity for the Bruins, will fare. But still, with rallying speeches like the one Chiarelli gave Friday, who needs a priest to perform last rites? Either you're ready to do the postmortem or not. Counting the season as done while claiming you don't think it's done doesn't exactly instill confidence in the coaches or the players.

Or maybe that was Chiarelli's plan. If Pittsburgh loses Friday night and/or Ottawa loses Saturday afternoon, the Bruins won't know their fate until they play the Lightning. Maybe knowing that not only the media and a chunk of the fan base has counted them out, but that the GM who's typically an unwavering rock of belief in his team is doubting their chances, the Bruins will play inspired hockey like we haven't seen since 2013.

Maybe what Chiarelli did Friday was the equivalent of threatening to move the Cleveland Indians to Florida. Maybe Milan Lucic should build a shrine to Jobu. Knowing his players haven't been unified all season, Chiarelli might have decided to take one last swing at getting the group to hunker down together and fight for the common cause.

There's no telling what will happen with the Bruins after Saturday, win or lose. Chiarelli gave coach Claude Julien a tepid vote of confidence by saying the coach has "done fine." Chiarelli also sounded uncertain about his own future.

"I don't know," Chiarelli responded to a question about whether he'll be back beyond this season. "I'm not sure. I'm operating that I am. If they tell me I'm not, I won't."

So Chiarelli isn't sure where he stands with his bosses. Perhaps all the negativity surrounding the Bruins' late-season fade has infiltrated all of his being and he can't muster a positive thought about anything.

Regardless, he clearly has diagnosed his team's problems and plans to come up with a strategy to solve them if given the chance. He just doesn't have an answer for getting the Bruins into the playoffs this season. That will be up to the players, if they get some help.

Chiarelli's last-gasp attempt to coax something positive out of them seems to have been to count them 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.

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