Bruins Un-bear-able

Back in the 1970’s the Philadelphia Flyers earned the nickname “Broad St. Bullies” while many called the Bruins the “Big Bad Bruins,” a nickname still used today by a lot of fans.  One thing is for sure.  They sure are bad.  In the bad way.

Last night was another unbelievably frustrating loss.  Sloppy play.  Inconsistent offense.  Turnovers.  Horrendous goaltending.  All this added up to a 6-2 loss to the Florida Panthers, giving the Bruins their fourth loss in a row, being outscored 21-8 over that span.  The Bruins have given up 36 goals this month in 9 games (4.00 goals per game).

With a matinee game against Philadelphia tomorrow, with the Flyers potent offense and the Bruins struggles in afternoon games, things don’t look to be improving any time soon.

Personally, I have never seen such terrible play by the B’s under coach Claude Julien’s reign.  Whether it’s the injuries mounting up, or last season’s long playoff run catching up to them, or other teams just figuring out how to play them, or a combination of everything, the Bruins need to turn things around quickly.  Goalie Tim Thomas says it’s just bad luck.

“That’s twilight zone-ish. I don’t know what we did, but we did something to put luck not on our favor that’s for sure,” Thomas said. “I haven’t seen a run of bounces like this in a long time.”

Really, Tim?  Really?

The Bruins have just 12 games left in the season and suddenly they find themselves in a race for the division, as the Ottawa Senators can take over first with a win tonight over the Montreal Canadiens.  After Tuesday’s game against Toronto, the Bruins embark on a three game west coast trip.  Hopefully, the Bruins can gel on this trip the way they did during last year’s west coast trip, where they won all 6 games.  Also, starting with the Toronto game, the Bruins play a string of games where 6 out of the 7 games are against teams outside of their playoff picture.

But it’s all up to the Bruins to change their fortune.  It’s obvious there is no confidence in their game right now.  Can they get it back?  Hopefully, they can start getting some injured players back in action.  Wednesday forward Rich Peverley has begun skating again for the first time since his knee injury.

So we’re at the crossroads.  The Bruins can take charge now, put the past few weeks behind them and put on a good charge to prepare for the playoffs.  Or they can just go through the motions and watch other teams pass them in the rankings and fallout of their 2nd place conference ranking.

But it has to begin now.