Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
“It’s a new season.” “Time to turn the page.”
These phrases were the theme of the Boston Bruins locker room after the team lost their season finale to the Ottawa Senators. For their sake, the players better make sure they take these words to heart.
It’s been a rough two months for the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions. After storming out of the gate in the lockout shortened regular season, the wheels of the Bruins bandwagon started coming off as the calendar hit mid-March. Boston’s spring contained more than a fair share of sloppy defense, ugly turnovers and an astounding amount of third period collapses.
To put it delicately, it was not Bruins hockey. The team markets themselves as “Big and Bad,” yet you couldn’t blame a few fans for accusing them of false advertising.
That was the regular season, though. The real game begins Wednesday as the Bruins take on the Toronto Maple Leafs in round one of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. If the team wants to flip the switch and turn their game around, they need to address a few major issues beforehand.
First of all, the defense needs to shore up and play with the same intensity that helped the Bruins win the Cup two years ago.
Throughout the year, the Bruins blue liners have struggled in more areas than one. Zdeno Chara, a former Norris Trophy winner, hasn’t quite looked up to par this year. Core players such as Johnny Boychuk and Dennis Seidenberg have looked solid one game, shoddy the next. Andrew Ference, in the middle of a contract year, has been completely lost at times.
The good news with this matter is that it shouldn’t be too difficult to correct.
Why? Simply put, besides rookie Dougie Hamilton, this is literally the same defense from the 2011 team. Fans know the defensemen are better than this, they showed us as much during their Cup run. If the Bruins want to advance, the team needs to show the world that they possess a lockdown style of play they’re known for.
Another hot topic on this Bruins team is their inability to put together a respectable amount of offense.
Coach Claude Julien has done more juggling than a circus act when it comes to his forward lines, yet none seem to generate consistent scoring chances. In fact, since their five goal effort April 10, the Bruins have potted two goals or less in all but one game.
The problem is Boston has to generate their offense through stepping up the physical play. Their style has always been to create opportunities by out-hitting the opponent. Frankly, this kind of play has been practically non-existent for the majority of the season.
Big-bodied wingers Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic have been playing maddeningly inconsistent hockey, the latter of the two looking like a shell of his former self. The most reliable way for the Bruins to score this postseason is to start getting the bite back to their game. Generate fear, generate goals.
Lastly, the Bruins simply must play all three periods of hockey.
Boston has been shockingly inefficient at closing out games this year. In years past, if the team carried a lead into the third period a victory was all but certain. This year has been a different and much uglier story, the third period now being where leads go to die.
Unfortunately, this task is looking like the toughest to correct. Boston gave up third period leads at a mind-numbingly high rate this year, leaving many struggling to believe the players when they say they were just victims of some bad bounces. Bruins fans had grown accustomed to popping champagne before the third period even started. Nowadays, they’re popping open a jar of Tums.
The majority of the Bruins roster is made up of players who were part of the 2011 Cup run, so they know what it takes to win it all. Surely, they have to realize that taking your foot off the gas for half a game is the fastest way to start your summer break. Boston needs to play with an edge regardless of the score, otherwise their lead will vanish faster than the Baha Men.
The Bruins say they’re ready to turn the page. One can only hope the next chapter of this story is easier to stomach.
Casey Drottar is a Boston Bruins writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @CDrottar19 or “Like” him on
Facebook
