Kalman: Effort Level Lacking As Bruins Lose To Another Playoff Team
BOSTON (CBS) - Don't worry, Bruins fans. Your favorite team is obviously waiting until the Stanley Cup playoffs to actually earn a few wins against teams in the playoffs.
The Bruins tried a new approach in their attempt to end a four-game losing streak against teams in the NHL playoff structure on Thursday. They mailed in the first 25-30 minutes of the game in Nashville, fell into a 2-0 hole and then barely raised their heart rates enough to be considered alive on their way to losing by that 2-0 score.
After getting swept by the Predators (and shut out by goaltender Pekka Rinne, who had allowed 16 goals in his past four appearances), the Bruins are now 1-8-0 against teams currently in the Western Conference playoff picture. And Boston has lost seven of its past eight games against teams that were in the playoffs in either conference at the start of the night. The only win came against New Jersey on Jan. 8. But, oh, would you look at that - the Devils fell out of the playoffs Thursday.
The Bruins are 3-2-0 with one more game remaining on the longest road trip of their season. They've won three games against non-playoff teams (including needing overtime to beat Columbus) and 0-2 against playoff teams. With the finale of the trip taking place in Dallas, where the Stars have lost just seven times in 27 games, it looks like the Bruins are going to have the expected 3-3-0 record by the time they return to the Bay State on Sunday.
What's most distressing about the Bruins' recent play is that as much as coach Claude Julien has tried to fluff them up like ragged old throw pillows through his positive remarks in public, the Bruins' effort level is letting him down. It doesn't take experience to be hard on the puck, make a pass out of a one-man forecheck or clear the crease area of attacking players. Inexperience and youth aren't holding the Bruins back, and the talent on the ice is at least comparable to some of these middle-of-the-road teams like Nashville.
But the Bruins' players don't seem to believe in themselves as much as their coach believes in them. They went more than 10 minutes without a shot on net against Columbus in the third period on Tuesday. Against Nashville they outshot the Predators 29-24 but only a handful of shots were from dangerous areas. Even when David Krejci hit the post, he nailed it from the blue line. Torey Krug, who has now gone 32 games without a goal, could've set the tone early when he had a mile of net to shoot at but instead slid the puck under Rinne wide. If that failed scoring chance didn't sum up the Bruins, nothing did.
The defense corps has been rightfully criticized and vilified for most of this season. The Bruins' back-end sextet was again up to its old tricks with weak play in the corners and poor decision-making. But that doesn't excuse the forwards' lackluster performances, especially on the two goals against.
Considering the youth on the back end and the struggles of Zdeno Chara, who's aging faster than a first-term president on this road trip, the forwards should be playing extra careful in the defensive zone. Instead there was no support to be found from Brett Connolly or Loui Eriksson on either of the Predators' goals.
Throughout the night the forwards didn't make themselves available enough in an effort to ease the pressure on the defensemen. Even with a late 6-on-4, the Bruins' forwards weren't interested in getting to the front of the net. And then you had Jimmy Hayes taking two offensive-zone penalties on stick infractions. He now has one goal in 12 games. Matt Beleskey is in another funk without a goal in 15 games.
Julien will tell you all about the close calls those guys have had and the expectations the organization had that were lower than what both players produced last season. But those are the two guys the Bruins need more from unless they think they're going to make a postseason run with all their offense coming from Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Loui Eriksson.
If they're so inclined, the Bruins can boast about still being in second place in the Atlantic Division. Detroit, which beat Boston on Sunday, again fell apart on the road and lost Thursday. Tampa Bay, though, pulled closer with a win and Florida extended its lead in the race for first place. With so many equally mediocre teams in the playoff race and the existence of the three-point game, the Bruins can't rely on the teams around them keeping them afloat forever. It's time to put forth a full-game, team-wide effort that might handily beat a pathetic team or earn at least one point against a league contender.
Maybe the sight of Tyler Seguin and his Stars will inspire the Bruins on Saturday. Or maybe they really are waiting for late-April to earn those major wins. By then it might be too late.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
