Perfect the B’s must be to succeed

For 20 or 25 minutes at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night, the Bruins showed how it is possible to be a successful, winning, playoff-bound team.

All they have to do is play a perfect checking game.

That, of course, is the problem.

Because while teams may well play perfectly for limited stretches, it’s exceedingly rare to see that level of team defense on a nightly, 60-minute basis. Error-free hockey is a delightful thing to behold, but in our new run-and-gun NHL, more often than not, talent and speed are going to trump the thin margins of tight system play.

So it has been for the Bruins in their most recent three contests, all losses, against Montreal, Minnesota and the New York Rangers, teams that, particularly with the B’s missing useful players like Tuukka Rask, David Backes, Frank Vatrano and Kevan Miller, simply have more talent.

As a reminder to Bruins fans who may not be happy with the start to this season — 3-4-0, with three straight losses by a combined 14-4 score — management this season is trying to juggle two distinctly different goals: Building for the future via draft picks and prospects, many of them still in college or juniors, but also trying to win now, while Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Rask, Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Backes still have juice left.

Even with those estimable players, too much talent has walked out the door in recent years for the Bruins to be serious contenders this season, even if team owner Jeremy Jacobs believes (demands?) that this club will play deep into the playoffs next spring.

After playing twice in 25 hours, the Bruins got a day off yesterday and will get back at practice today in Brighton. There should be news on what reinforcements, if any, could help the cause tomorrow night at Joe Louis Arena against the Red Wings. Versatile top-half forward Backes (minor elbow surgery Monday) is doubtful; Rask, may, at least, be back on the ice after taking close to a week off with an apparent nagging leg ailment.

The B’s star netminder has to be at best a longshot to face the Wings, though perhaps he’ll be back next week for tough tests in Florida against the Panthers and Lightning.

That means Julien tomorrow night will again have his pick of rookie goaltenders in Malcolm Subban or Zane McIntyre. The apparent choice would be McIntyre, who was quite solid in the first half of Wednesday’s game in Manhattan: Out at the edge of his crease to challenge shooters, square and balanced, looking calm and confident.

McIntyre was aided by a smothering three-zone checking performance from his teammates, who for some 25 minutes played precisely the sort of tight, disciplined hockey that gives them the chance to beat anyone, even more talented teams.

McIntyre stopped the first 13 shots he faced in his inaugural NHL start, then was beaten on five of the next 18, as the Rangers, helped immensely by six successive power plays, some quite questionable, danced to a 5-2 win.

“I thought he made some real good saves early in the game,” said Julien. “Same thing as the team. In the first half, he was really good. But then some tough goals went in on him.”

Between Subban and McIntyre, the B’s let in at least 3-4 goals the last two games that ranged from shouldhave-been-stopped to pure stinkers.

But while even one bad goal can ruin a team’s psyche, the Bruins have bigger problems than the kid goalies. The most troubling aspect is the secondperiod stumbles. Just as last year’s inability to win at home killed the team, now it seems to be poor play in the second period that’s doing the job.

After giving up three goals in the middle period in New York, the B’s have been outscored 10-4 in seven second periods.

“The second period is becoming an issue. It already is an issue for our team,” said Bruins defenseman Torey Krug. “The last two nights we played well in the first, but were not able to continue that. Our discipline wasn’t there.

“If you give a skilled team like (the Rangers) so many power plays, they’re going to score. It’s not acceptable.”

And far from the perfection the Bruins, unfortunately, may need.