Kalman: Bruins Hoping Two Days Work Enough To Move On From Winter Classic Disaster
BOSTON (CBS) - The hype leading up the 2016 Winter Classic was at playoff level, including the schedule that had the Bruins playing nine games in 18 days.
Luckily for the Bruins, the outdoor showdown last Friday against the Montreal Canadiens at Gillette Stadium wasn't a playoff-elimination game. In fact, the Bruins haven't even reached the midway point of their season. They have plenty of time to erase the bitter taste of their 5-1 loss.
Recap: Bruins Lay Dud In Winter Classic
The Bruins started the post-Winter Classic portion of their schedule with two days of practice Sunday and Monday. One day after they focused on refining their defensive play, the Bruins spent much of their hour-long practice Monday at TD Garden working on their offense.
After a 5-0-1 stretch that had them knocking on the door of first place in the Atlantic Division, the Bruins are 1-4-0, including the loss to Montreal, heading into the matchup with Eastern Conference-leading Washington on Tuesday.
"I think we needed to do some of that work," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We haven't had that much time in the last month or so. We seemed to be playing every second day. So this was good for us to have this quality practice time."
The core of the Bruins' roster – Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Dennis Seidenberg, etc. – has experience bouncing back from depressing defeats in the regular season and playoffs. They need to share some of that experience their less-experienced teammates in order to make sure the upcoming stretch of games keeps them in contention despite the absence of center David Krejci and wing Brad Marchand.
"That's why we had these two days. We have to move forward," Chara said. "I think with any other game, when you have a bad game, you just have to move forward and get ready for the next one. And that's the way we took the approach this time."
The Bruins might benefit from the return of Joonas Kemppainen to play center and win the faceoffs Bergeron doesn't take. Julien also seems poised to make a switch on defense, with Zach Trotman and Colin Miller going back into the lineup in place of Kevan Miller and Joe Morrow. Trotman has been a healthy scratch nine of the past 10 games. Colin Miller sat out the past three games.
"It's still the same game. Nothing's changed while I was gone," Trotman said. "It's kind of the same thing. Just going in, taking it day by day and if I'm in the lineup, I'm in the lineup and I've got to try to play my best game, put my best foot forward and try to help the team win. It's been an adjustment coming in and out. I don't think anyone's gotten to this level by doing that before, you know. So it's a challenge. But it kind of helps you learn a little bit about how to be prepared every single day because you never know when you're going to get called on to play."
Said Colin Miller: "Every time you sit out you can watch the games and that's a little bit beneficial. But I think everybody wants to play and everybody wants to be in the lineup. But we have eight defensemen on this team and they're all capable of playing in the NHL and in the Bruins lineup. So it's going to happen. It's one of those years and you're just trying to gain experience every time you're on the ice and just use it."
The experience many of the Bruins gained from the Winter Classic and the weeks leading up to it could be beneficial if the Bruins are in the postseason at season's end. What they have learned that should benefit them throughout their career is what it takes to be a professional in high-stakes situations and how to handle them when they don't go your way.
"It's just everything. You come to the rink and they're not moping or anything," Trotman said about the Bruins' veterans. "You go about your business, it's another day, it's a new day. You put in your work and if you do that, then obviously you expect better results. So kind of watching them and you know how they come to the rink. They put in the work and they expect better results. It's not one of those things that you can say 'we're just going to forget about it' and then hope for something better next game. We've got to go work for it. It's the sort of stuff that you learn and I feel like I've learned from being up here watching those guys."
The Bruins will find out Tuesday if their work pays off.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
