Boston Sports Then and Now

The only real highlights from the night came in the form of fights from Lucic and Thornton

It’s no secret the Bruins unbelievable November and December run is over. As of late, the team has shown inconsistency on every level of play and it is clear the team is struggling to begin another streak. Bruins are openly frustrated with their play, and rightfully so considering the worst of the recent losses are coming from not-so-great teams.

Most recently the Bruins suffered arguably their worst loss of the season, to 12^th in the east Buffalo Sabres. The game started off with a decent level of compete from the Bruins, gaining chances and notching a goal that was taken away for incidental goalie contact with Sabres’ Ryan Miller and Rich Peverley.  After that the Bruins were clearly emotional, but unfortunately their frustration proved to work against them not for them.  Bruins fans also got the rare chance of seeing one of their impressive goalies be pulled after Tukkaa let 3 past him. Yet again this could have been a nice spark to get the Bruins going, especially when Thomas came in and right away made some great saves, but it wasn’t enough.

After the loss both Lucic and Thornton talked about the disappointing loss and what they think needs to improve. Lucic talked about the team needing to focus more on themselves than their opponent, something he says they were doing during their earlier stretches. Thornton made a point of saying everyone could have been better, and that the team needs to work on things and come back better for Saturday’s game. Given those statements and their recent win against the Capitals, it appears the Bruins are all aware of their lack of hustle when its occurring, but unfortunately can’t focus consistently to make a big enough impact.

Reports from practice have the inconsistent Krejci as the first one on the ice. While it’s good to see effort from him, you don’t always see that same drive

The game was a rough one for both Thomas and Rask, who each let in 3 goals

during games. At the time, I saw the Krejci contract as well deserved, but he seems to be a player everyone (the organization included) is always waiting to get better. His less than impressive play as of late, with Horton out and Lucic also struggling isn’t a good thing for the Bruins’ “first line”. They are getting much more consistency out of Bergeron, Marchand, and Seguin, the only line that seemed to stay intact for the Buffalo game. It is also worth noting the most shots on goal after first period from a player was only two, which Bergeron and Seguin each had. It seems that the Bruins really need a couple guys to step up, having depth and not just a couple big goal scorers is great, but right now it seems there’s too many guys struggling to produce wins.

The good news about last night’s game is while it may have been painful to watch we are still second in the east. The game also is not something we haven’t seen from the team. Whenever I see games like this, I flashback to them and their inconsistencies last season and it makes me less worried. However, not everyone is as calm about the Bruins play as of late and given the trade deadline quickly approaching it’s leaving some wondering what changes we could make. Earlier this week Peter Chiarelli stated he wanted to add a forward and defense man to the Bruins, without taking anything away.  It’s safe to say no one would be surprised to see some trades happen for the Bruins in the next couple of weeks, but no one really knows what that could mean.