Kalman: Winter Classic Loss Proves Bruins Still Lack Depth, Experience
FOXBORO – Just when it seemed the NHL got the marquee matchup it wanted when it picked the Bruins and Montreal Canadiens to play in the 2016 Winter Classic, the Bruins went out and made early-season predictions of New Year's Day doom a reality.
The Bruins were drubbed 5-1 by the Canadiens at Gillette Stadium on Friday.
The Bruins started the season with several new faces in their lineup and got out to a 0-3-0 start. They were 6-6-1 through 13 games. Meanwhile, the Canadiens got off to a franchise-record 9-0-0 start and they were 13-3-0 after they beat the Bruins Nov. 7. It appeared that the New Year's Day matchup might be a mismatch.
Then the Bruins began to turn things around. They even ended a seven-game losing streak against Montreal with a 3-1 win Dec. 9. The Canadiens began to crumble and endured one of the worst months in franchise history in December with a 3-11-0 record. Although the Bruins didn't take complete advantage, the Canadiens fell out of first place as Detroit, and then Florida, took over supremacy in the Atlantic Division.
On paper, though, the NHL still had a competitive pair of teams for its marquee regular-season event. One point separated the Bruins and Canadiens when they took the ice in front of 67,246 frigid fans. By the time 60 minutes of action ended, it was obvious the distance between the two teams was as great as it looked in October.
The Bruins were outclassed from the outset, outshot 14-3 in the first period, and trailed 1-0 at the first intermission. They allowed an early second-period goal and were down 3-0 in the third period when they finally scored on a Matt Beleskey tip.
"I think with so much on the line, I just think we weren't prepared, we weren't ready," defenseman Torey Krug said. "They were obviously ready to play, and it showed. They were first to the puck for the whole first period. For most of the game, even the second period, it was almost like we were waiting for someone to take control. It's really unfortunate and tough for this stage that we were on today."
Surely the Bruins weren't going to keep scoring like an offensive juggernaut without injured center David Krejci the way they did in their 7-3 rout of Ottawa on Tuesday. But even without Krejci the Bruins had no business going 14:50 without a shot on net in the first period.
The loss of Brad Marchand to a suspension took its toll. Had Marchand been in the lineup he would have been both a threat offensively and a match for Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher (one goal, one assist in his return from injury) in the truculence department. Nonetheless, the Bruins should have at least had a physical answer, if not a skillful one, for the Canadiens. Krug made a token gesture to awake the troops with his shoving back with David Desharnais. Beleskey got his feet moving and buried Andrei Markov on a forecheck. Still, the Bruins were zombies that wouldn't have been enlivened even if Marchand, Ken Linesman and the Tasmanian Devil pulled on their skates and a Bruins sweater.
"The unfortunate part is that I think we played one of our probably worst games at the worst time," coach Claude Julien said.
It was disappointing that a team still built around veterans like Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron and Loui Eriksson could fail on such an epic level in such a showcase event. Just as disappointing was that with Krejci and Marchand out the Bruins again were hoping prospects Seth Griffith and Alexander Khokhlachev would be able to pick up the slack and instead Julien couldn't trust them to skate a regular shift in the second half of the game.
The Bruins' boasts about their depth were proven false. Their mettle in a playoff-level atmosphere was exposed as not ready for primetime. Luckily for them, they have a couple months to get healthy or add some players through trades. Assuming they can stay in the playoff picture, they have three months to learn how to better prepare for games of greater importance.
For now, they have to prove they're able to move on from such an utter disappointment. That will start with a home game against the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals.
"At the end of the day it's one game," Beleskey said. "It's two points, they're a big two points, but we've got to look at this as a great experience. We had a lot of fun with it and now we move on and we try to get ready for the rest of the season here."
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
