B’s must be accountable
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The word used to describe the Bruins was a “mess.”
Tuukka Rask did not disagree.
“Definitely, looked like a mess,” Rask said after the 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.
And it was bad on both sides of the puck, at least until a third-period rally that fell short.
In dropping back-to-back games to the improved Avalanche, the B’s were porous and confused defensively, prone to mistakes of both hands and mind and mostly harmless offensively until the Sean Kuraly-Tim Schaller-Danton Heinen fourth line started generating offense. And those guys did it the old-fashioned way, by sending pucks and bodies hard to the net.
The Bruins had a day off yesterday in steaming Phoenix (nearly 100 degrees) to rest and think about things. They still can salvage this three-game trip and change perceptions from negative to positive if they can close it with wins against the Coyotes tomorrow night and the Golden Knights on Sunday in Las Vegas.
But given where the Bruins, young and old, are right now, even the prospect of two points against the expansion Knights is no sure thing.
“It’s just a mat- ter of getting our heads into the game, execut- ing the plays and trusting the system,” de- fenseman Torey Krug said after Wednesday’s game. “(Then) everything becomes clear. When you’re kind of struggling handling the puck or to get yourself into the game, you have to refocus. If you start running around, the other team is going to make you pay. We saw a great example of that (in Denver).”
Tied 1-1 early in the second period against the Avs, the B’s seemed to be in OK shape. Then everything fell apart as the home team jumped to a 4-1 lead, an onslaught made easy by poor Bruins decisions and/or puck management.
“That’s a sign of weak teams,” Krug said. “Letting things snowball.”
From Rask’s viewpoint, his mates did little to slow the attack by a strong group of talented young Colorado forwards led by Nail Yakupov, Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog. They were given open chances and didn’t miss.
“The middle of the ice was wide-open for the most part,” Rask said. “They came with speed. We just didn’t get the pucks deep. When you give up a lot of odd-man rushes, it becomes a challenge for everybody to keep up.”
Krug made one of the mistakes that led to a goal, making an ill-advised pinch from the offensive blue line one minute into the second period. He was left behind on a 2-on-1 break, which resulted in a Yakupov goal and a 2-1 lead.
“I was terrible in the second period,” Krug said. “Turnovers, penalties. Every time I touched the ice, something bad happened. I’ll take the blame for the second period.”
But there’s no shortage of accountability. The players know they have a problem. That accountability should be expressed, not in postgame interviews but on the ice during the games.
“You can use a ton of excuses,” Krug said. “At the end of the day, you could see that in the third period we were willing to put in the work, and it paid off. We were able to climb back into the game. You give yourselves a chance. You can try to use all the excuses you want, but we’ve got to be more committed to battles.
“It’s a standard: Boston Bruins hockey. We want to play to a certain level each night. We have expectations. The older guys in this room have expectations, the younger guys as well. It’s up to us to lead the way. There’s a standard we’re trying to achieve, and we’re not finding it. In the third period, we started to find our game a little bit.”
It will be enlightening to see to what extent Patrice Bergeron takes part at practice today at Gila River Arena. He’s been slowly working his way back from an undisclosed ailment (related to offseason sports hernia surgery), but now perhaps there’s some pressure for his return.
This certainly isn’t the start the Bruins expected.