Kalman: Bruins Look Completely Lost In Two Embarrassing Losses To Start Season
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tell me again why they hold training camp?
The Bruins have played two games and in both they looked like they could've used at least another two or three weeks of training camp ... or reform school.
Their sloppiness during their two losses to open the season, including their 4-2 loss to Montreal at TD Garden on Saturday, have made them look like dunces who are unfamiliar with each other.
When the Bruins opened their season with a gaffe-fest against Winnipeg on Thursday, some of their errors could've been chalked up to first-game jitters or over-excitement. But by repeating many of those mistakes against the Canadiens, the Bruins started to show that their training camp was mostly a waste of time and they didn't learn a thing from their video work after the Jets loss.
The Bruins have lost their past six games overall and past seven at home to the Canadiens. But this wasn't your typical Montreal victory against Boston. Usually, the Bruins play their system and their structure and the Canadiens force one or two mistakes that lead to game-deciding goals. But the 2015-16 edition of the Bruins has yet to figure out what their structure should be and how they should play their system. They're a hodgepodge of veteran returning players and newcomers who despite being together for close to two months (if you count back to informal practice) play as though they've never played together and have never played for the Bruins.
Most blatantly, they're treating the defensive zone like middle schoolers that hear the bell and take off without even glancing back.
"Yeah I mean, you know, the defensive side of it, I think you know maybe forwards are getting out of the zone too quickly," Bruins center Patrice Bergeron said. "I think sometimes we're not making the smart play and we definitely gave them too many grade-A chances. So we have to start from being sharp and better defensively and move onto the offensive side of the game."
Defenseman Matt Irwin made the ill-fated decision to backhand the puck up the wall before Montreal's third goal. But it would've helped if anyone stayed back to provide him an outlet or support the play after the puck was turned over. David Pastrnak similarly had no one in the neighborhood to pass to in the neutral zone before Montreal's second goal. If it wasn't for goaltender Tuukka Rask, a few other poor decisions by the players in front of him might've wound up in the net.
The trio of Ryan Spooner centering Brett Connolly and Jimmy Hayes is the line more than any other that epitomizes the Bruins' allergic reaction to defensive-zone play. Too many times the Canadiens were allowed to work the puck around unscathed. When the Bruins gained possession it didn't last long because there was no help moving the puck up the ice. That line has been a trio of observers instead of antagonists for two games now. One has to wonder how long coach Claude Julien is going to keep them together, if he's even allowed to change his lines without going through a few levels of permission.
When Zdeno Chara returns to the lineup, things will get a little easier for the Bruins. Chara will stabilize the penalty kill and reduce the number, or at least lessen the quality of, some of the 5-on-5 chances against. But there are still going to be five other defensemen out there over the course of the game. And even Chara is going to need assistance from more conscientious forwards.
Julien, as he's been known to do in the face of adversity, is keeping a brave face and sounding like a patient nanny at this point.
"But again, we've got to get better in certain areas, we've got to keep working on and those young guys are going to get better if they keep playing and getting some experience," the coach said.
The coach can keep calm, but the players better show some urgency. It's bad enough that they should be experts on how to play the Bruins' way by now. But they've been embarrassed twice in a row and the schedule isn't getting any easier. It's one thing for a team without Chara and Dennis Seidenberg to come up short because of a talent gap. However, these Bruins just aren't playing the right way, and that's something that can easily become habit. And when it becomes habit, losses pile up and seasons go down the drain.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
