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Plenty of Blame For Subban To Share After Bruins Routed By Wild

By Matt Kalman, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- Here rests the NHL career of Malcolm Subban.

He had a bright future, was drafted in the first round, 24th overall, in the 2012 NHL Draft--but then he had two starts and it all ended.

Well, not quite.

Sure, Subban was routed and pulled Tuesday for the second time in two NHL starts 21 months apart during a 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden. But his career isn't over yet. He still has potential and still has a chance to be a star, assuming the Bruins figure out how to put a star-worthy team in front of him and play the right way.

Subban should not be exonerated for how terrible Tuesday went without Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin (or David Backes for that matter) available because of injury. After stopping all eight shots he faced in the first period, Subban lasted until he let in his third goal on eights faced in the second period. He skated for 30:36 (a little less than the 31:15 he put in during his NHL debut Feb. 20, 2015) and he certainly won't be telling his grandkids grand tales of his first two NHL appearances. But Subban shouldn't be the only one ashamed, and he probably doesn't even deserve the bulk of the ridicule.

When 19-year-old Joel Eriksson Ek is warding off two Bruins, including Patrice Bergeron, down low before the first of his three assists, the goaltending is the least of the Bruins problems. When Brandon Carlo, who seems to have had his Cinderella-past-midnight moment, gets stripped clean of the puck during a penalty kill before the Wild's third goal, Subban isn't to blame (Although that was the one of the three goals he admitted he absolutely should've stopped).

And let's face it, the Bruins' claim about depth is clearly a mirage or it's a hoax perpetrated on the public and ownership by general manager Don Sweeney to make everyone believe that, after two years without making the playoffs, this organization is ready to get back in the postseason and make a run.

The so-called depth means that when Patrice Bergeron is injured, David Backes moves into his spot in the lineup, and one line does all the scoring. When Backes goes out of the lineup, even with Bergeron back, the Bruins revert to being a one-line team and no one scores. This time with Backes out on Tuesday, Dominic Moore, a fourth-line player who was signed as a free-agent after thought late in summer, has to move up to the third line and play with Ryan Spooner. Nineteen-year-old rookie Danton Heinen has somehow been anointed a top-six forward for life, despite floating through most of Boston's recent games as though he's ready to go as a ghost for Halloween. But there aren't many other options.

And then there are the players who are in the right spots in the lineup, who have the experience and don't produce. Matt Beleskey, Jimmy Hayes, John-Michael Liles, Torey Krug have all been non-factors. Adam McQuaid returned to the lineup after missing the first five games and played as though he just arrived from a foreign country for the first time. The Bruins made tweaks to their system for this season, but the players have decided to reinvent the game and play no system.

"Every time we've played well without the puck and done the job, we've scored some goals," said Julien. "Any good team will tell you that, that the game without the puck, recovering the puck quickly, is the key to success and to getting some offense. If we're going to cheat offensively and not do our job defensively, it ends up in the back of our net and we just lose momentum, we lose confidence, we lose everything that comes with it. We've just got to get better in that area and no matter who we have in our lineup, if they're here it's because their capable of doing the job."

Julien didn't let the goaltenders – Subban and McIntyre (who let in two goals on 17 shots) – off the hook. But he rightly didn't hang all the blame on them. Subban took the heat after the game like a pro.

"Obviously I want to be a No. 1 goaltender in the league. I was a high pick for a reason and I have the potential. I've just got to show it," Subban said. "Obviously I haven't done that so far yet but I think I'll be getting closer to it. Honestly I think I can do it right now, I've just got to show it. Obviously I didn't today but tomorrow's a new day."

Every day is a new day, but the Bruins aren't going to be a new team for a while. If Subban's lucky, the next time he gets a chance to play the Bruins will at least pack it in the defensive end or have many different faces than the ones he played behind Tuesday.

Otherwise, his career will be buried.

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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