B’s must find their game again
Bruce Cassidy, whose magic powers seem to have worn off since his 7-1-0 start as Bruins coach, wishes he could order up a performance to end his team’s four-game losing streak against the New York Islanders tonight.
“Well, a shutout usually works best, to be honest with you,” Cassidy said after a brief practice at Warrior Ice Arena yesterday. “If we could pitch one of those, we’re back on track. But that’s putting a lot of your eggs in one basket, on one person.”
The Bruins have been outscored 20-11 during their skid. And although three of those goals-against were into an empty net, the defense and goaltending have slipped and contributed to a 5-6-0 record since Cassidy’s hot start. Getting that shutout against the Islanders could be more difficult because of the questionable status of goaltender Tuukka Rask, who did not practice yesterday.
“Tuukka had a maintenance day; getting a little work done,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy was asked if there were questions about Rask’s availability to make his fifth straight start and all the coach would say was: “That’ll be determined (tonight). I don’t want to get out in front of it to be honest with you.”
The Bruins and Islanders are tied for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference after New York beat Pittsburgh last night in a shootout. Tampa Bay and Carolina have also played their way back into contention.
Basically the playoffs have already started.
It doesn’t matter if Rask, backup Anton Khudobin or the ghost of Frank Brimsek plays goal against the Islanders, the Bruins aren’t going to prevail unless they get back to what Cassidy called the “fabric” of Bruins hockey — defending well and managing the puck rather than thinking too much about going on the attack.
Throughout this streak, giveaways at inopportune times and at unfortunate parts of the rink have damaged the Bruins’ chances for victory.
“Scoring is fun, but at the same time it’s more fun to win games and keep pucks out of your net,” defenseman Kevan Miller said. “And that’s just as a team, as a whole, we need to make sure we’re taking care of that end before we worry about the other end. You play strong defensively, you always tend to create those chances offensively.
“It’s something we’ve always been good at here and we’re looking to get back to (tonight).”
With just eight games remaining in the regular season for the Bruins to avoid a third straight playoff miss, there’s not a lot of time to correct their problems. But the season’s not over and harkening back to how they played during the start of Cassidy’s tenure gives the Bruins confidence they can quickly turn around their struggles.
“I think we had a good defensive game when we were winning, so we need to get back into it, and the last couple games we lose it by our mistakes, and it’s not like the team outplayed us,” forward David Pastrnak said. “So we need to get better as a team and we don’t have much time so we need to start (tonight).”
Bruins notes
Forward Matt Beleskey (family leave) did not practice and his availability for the game will be decided today. . . . Forward Tim Schaller, who has been out since he sustained a lower-body injury on March 8, started skating on his own away from the team. . . .
The Bruins signed Boston College forward Ryan Fitzgerald to a two-year entry level contract and Swedish defenseman Emil Johansson to a three-year entry level contract. The contracts begin next season. Both Fitzgerald, a fourth-round pick (120th) in 2013, and Johansson, a seventh-round pick (206th) in 2014, will report to AHL Providence.