Boston Bruins Still Above Water

This is for my boy Dom Cogs.

When the Bruins reached the West Coast last Wednesday night in Anaheim they were in the midst of a three game losing streak and were coming off a home series with Toronto in a rare Eastern Conference game and a rare divisional matchup, considering Boston had played 10 of their first 16 games against Western Conference opponents. Not only that, but the injury bug had affected the majority of the Bruins starting roster including David Backes, Torey Krug, David Krejci, Brad Marchand, Anders Bjork, Adam McQuaid, and Ryan Spooner. One can figure out that all of those guys are regular starters, maybe not across the NHL, but at least with this team given how the roster is structured. As my buddy Dom pointed out, it is easy to look at the injuries and automatically aim the blame them for the reason why the Bruins have struggled out of the gate, but more importantly the Bruins have yet to all play a game together this season with every starter in their respective roles. When that happens, it is nearly impossible to get consistent play out of the players, especially when the goaltending from Tuukka Rask has been sub-par at best (3-7-0, 2.89 GAA, .897 SV %). Looking at the numbers, sub-par is a compliment at best. These injuries have yet to allow this team to play with each other every game, disallowing them to establish chemistry with each other, figuring out the rookies tendencies like Bjork and DeBrusk, and allowing defensive pairs to be comfortable in figuring out their strategies (who should pinch, who should stay back) and that certainly attributes to Rask’s poor numbers, but he also has to wear some blame on his shoulders.

Let’s move past the injuries though. Entering Anaheim the Bruins had lost three straight, and after three days off the team went with Rask to start the West Coast swing. It was ugly from the get-go against the Ducks. The Bruins yet again gave up the first goal in the game to Northeastern alum, Kevin Roy (his first of his career), which ended the first period at 1-0. Danton Heinen scored his third goal of the season almost nine minutes into the second, but after that it was all downhill from there as the Ducks scored three unanswered goals between the second period and the third until Noel Acciari scored with 22 seconds to go in the third period. John Gibson continued his strong NHL career as he finished with 40 saves at the end of the night while the Bruins started to drown to the depths of the Pacific Ocean reaching their season worst fourth straight loss.

A change needed to be made, and a change occurred the next night in Los Angeles as Anton Khudobin got the start against one of the top teams in the NHL. Many Bruins fans, myself included, figured this game to end in a blow out. The Kings are just so good throughout their whole line up with perhaps the best goalie in the league between the pipes, there was no way in hell the Bruins could squeak a victory out in a back to back game. But as they say in football, “defense wins championships”, and well, in this game, defense won the Bruins a game. The Bruins held LA to just five shots in the first and third period and held them under 30 throughout the game (28). Both goals for the Bruins came from their top defensive unit with Charlie McAvoy walking into the offensive zone off an offensive zone face off win from Patrice Bergeron and tucked the puck home past Jonathan Quick. Zdeno Chara scored his second of the season in the second period about nine minutes after Drew Doughty tied the game at one early in the period. The change coach Bruce Cassidy made to start the game paid off as Khudobin stood on his head during the second half of the middle frame and the third period as the Bruins staved off the red-hot Kings to end their losing streak at four, salvaging themselves at least two out of a possible six points during the road trip.

As a day passed in the California sun, the San Jose Sharks were focused on getting out of their rut at the shark tank. Another game, another start for Khudobin because how could you not ride the hot hand? Entering Saturday night, Khudobin had yet to lose a game in regulation this season (4-0-2), and dating back to last season, he ended the season helping the team make the playoffs by winning six of his last eight. So could the Bruins finally win back to back games for the first time this season on Saturday? You bet. Per usual, the Bruins gave up the first goal of the game just under five minutes into the game. Can you hear the groans? However, Peter Cehlarik scored his first NHL goal after Jake DeBrusk stormed into the zone, made a move, and got a shot off where the rebound landed right on Cehlarik’s stick. After that, the Bruins settled down and played some old school Bruins hockey; finishing checks, active sticks, and solid goaltending. Four minutes after the tying goal, DeBrusk got a goal of his own giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead entering the second period, which ultimately ended up being scoreless for both sides. The intensity was high in the third period, the Bruins were outshot 37-20 in the game and 12-6 in the third, but opportune goals is what matters most and that is exactly what Danton Heinen provided with a tad under six minutes to go in the third. The Bruins buckled down and played good enough defense, with Khudobin doing a spectacular job against the Sharks’ offensive pressure. All of a sudden, what looked to be woeful West Coast trip ended with four out of a possible six points in the pocket of the Bruins giving the team some life before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is known to be the time of year where teams figure out whether or not they are a playoff team or not, and with the Bruins current injury situation and hot and cold offense, it is really hard to tell if this team is bound to make the playoffs, but if there is anything to takeaway thus far it is this, keep playing Anton Khudobin. The veteran goaltender has earned his time to shine for now while Tuukka Rask sits on the bench counting his seven million dollars. As bad as that look may be, this team needs wins and needs them now, so why not ride the hot hand? You gotta Coach Cassidy, and it appears that he will continue to do so as the Bruins have three tough games coming up with the surprisingly good New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, Pittsburgh Penguins on Black Friday, and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. The Bruins took off their weighted vest out West and have swam back up to the surface for air, but currently they are just treading water. Now is the time fight to stay afloat.

Written by Nick Gendreau