Bruins playing well in spurts, but still need to see results
B’s look to snap fourgame skid against tough Dallas team
At the moment, the Bruins are safely ensconced in a playoff spot, just one point off the Eastern Conference lead and 13 points separating themselves from the second wild-card holder, the Detroit Red Wings.
So, yes, they have some runway to get themselves right again.
But make no mistake, after losing four straight at home (they got the loser point in two of those), the B’s are fighting against a dangerous riptide that could dramatically change the course of their promising season.
On Monday, they’ll face the Central Divisionleading Dallas Stars before heading out on a difficult western swing that opens Wednesday in Edmonton against arguably the best team in hockey the last couple of months. Then they play in Calgary against a team that made the Bruins look very bad last week. On Saturday, the B’s travel to Vancouver to play the NHL-leading Canucks, who no doubt will be looking to atone for their no-show performance at the Garden, the only win the B’s have managed on this seven-game home stand. They finish in Seattle a week from Monday against a Kraken team that stole a win at the Garden, thanks to goalie Joey Daccord.
After cruising through the regular season last year, the B’s were hoping for some adversity to test their mettle. Well, they’ve got it on their plate now, piled high and deep. Whether you play well or play poorly in a loss, it’s still a loss, and losing can snowball.
“I don’t think I’m as worried as maybe the outside people are because I see a good brand of hockey,” said coach Jim Montgomery after Sunday’s practice in Brighton. “Do I see people making mistakes, yes. Other teams are making mistakes. We’re not closing out games, whether that’s special teams, whether that’s 5-on-5, whether it’s our forecheck, whether it’s our D-zone coverage, oddman rushes, taking penalties. Those are all things that during the course of the year, you’re going to have moments like this. And I agree with you. This could snowball. We’ve got Dallas coming in, one of the elite teams in the league. Then we’re going to Edmonton, the best record in the league since Dec. 1. And we’re on the road for fourin-six nights. Yeah, it can. But if you get caught up in that, you start worrying. That’s why we try and immerse ourselves in the moment and we just focus on (Monday).”
At the end of Sunday’s practice, Montgomery huddled his extended leadership group — Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Charlie Coyle and Brandon Carlo — for a chat. The coach kept the contents of that particular conversation between those players and himself. But in general, he said his message to his players was about not losing sight of some of the good things that are happening. There’s also some wagon-circling going on.
“I talk to them about what I like and what we’d like to be better at. And also to stick together,” said Montgomery. “And that’s why I talk to them about the outside noise. The sky’s not falling. It’s not. And we believe in the process that, if we get five percent better, we win our last three games. The Calgary game, the Washington game? That bothers me to the core. But when I see my team building and I see the group building the right way, it gives me confidence, so it’s easy for me to be confident around the team.”
Part of the B’s undoing lately has been on special teams. On Saturday, they gave up a late power play goal that tied the game and then failed to cash in on an overtime power play.
“Special teams is how you win or lose a lot of games in this league, so we need to be better there,” said Marchand. “But other than that, we’re competing hard every game, we’re giving ourselves an opportunity to win and if we tighten up in a couple of areas, we’ll be great.”
Some tweaks were made on the power play in practice. Marchand was moved to the net-front, Morgan Geekie went to the bumper, Pavel Zacha took Marchand’s spot on the right elbow while McAvoy (blue line) and Pastrnak (left elbow) took their usual spots.
“I think when Geekie was down with that group, it was the highest powerplay percentage we had for like a month,” said Montgomery. “But there’s a reason why we went away from it and a reason why we’re going back to it. We’re tinkering, we’re looking at different looks.”
On the penalty kill and defensively in generally, Montgomery expressed confidence in Derek Forbort, their PK specialist who has struggled to find his game since coming back from a long layoff with a groin injury.
“I see a guy trying to come back and get in the rhythm of the game,” said Montgomery. “I think he’s had some real good games and I think he’s had some games he’d like to make a few corrections on. But he’s someone we believe in and someone that’s going to help us in the long-term as he always has.”…
The Bruins will officially honor Marchand for his 1,000th game in the traditional silver stick ceremony before Monday’s matinee….
Jakub Lauko did not practice because of an upper body injury. His availability will be determined Monday morning.
Meanwhile, the B’s placed Oskar Steen on waivers on Sunday. While Steen has brought physicality to the fourth line when he’s played, he has just one goal and no assists in 34 games.