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Since starting their year with three-straight losses, the Boston Bruins have found their footing.
With wins in five of their last six, and 11 of a possible 12 points to their name over that stretch, the B’s horrid start in which they allowed entirely too many goals and scored far too few is a distant memory.
“Why are we better defensively? All the new faces that were maybe hesitating at first are now feeling more comfortable and more confident with what they need to do and when you take hesitation out of your game everybody on the ice benefits from it,”
Claude Julien said last week. “I think guys are a little more assertive in all areas, whether it’s defensively or offensively and guys are starting to feel more comfortable. The key right now is to build on these kind of wins and to build on these kind of games where you’re doing a lot of good things and continue to try and improve as a hockey club.”
There’s a definitive improvement from the Bruins in their last six games, specifically their last five games. And to get even more specific, after their disastrous first period against the New York Islanders in an eventual 5-3 win over the Isles in Brooklyn on Oct. 23. It was the opposite of the start that Julien wanted from his club as they allowed the Islanders to just pummel Jonas Gustavsson for 18 shots.
From there, the Black and Gold tightened their defensive game up, and have ever since.
“I mean everything goes right, but only because we were doing the right things,” top-line center
David Krejci, among the league leaders in points since Day 1 this year, said of their success.
But while wins over the Isles, ‘Yotes, and a Sunshine State sweep over the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning are reason to celebrate the B’s rise in the Atlantic standings, their Hell Week is nigh.
Tomorrow, the Bruins will start a four game in six night stretch that begins with a home contest against the Dallas Stars, followed by three road swings, including a Thursday night showdown with the Washington Capitals, and a weekend road back-to-back against the Montreal Canadiens and Islanders.
And I thought Halloween was over.
In case you missed it, the Stars, 9-2-0, are off to their best start since 2006-07. They’re led by a high-powered offensive with a first line featuring
Jamie Benn,
Tyler Seguin, and
Patrick Sharp. Through 11 games, the trio has combined for 41 points in 2015 thus far, with Benn leading the way by way of a nine-goal, 17-point start to his season. In essence, he’s on fire.
Then it’s on D.C., where the Bruins will play the Metropolitan-leading Capitals at the Verizon Center.
Not only are the Caps are in first place in their division, but care to remember the tale of last season? You know the one, right, when the Capitals swept their season series with the Bruins and shut them out in all three games? That was the
first time that had happened in any three-game season series in NHL history, and basically all Braden Holtby’s doing, as he’ll enter Thursday with seven wins and a .953 save percentage in eight career starts against the Bruins. Oh, and another stat that’ll frustrate you? Goaltender
Tuukka Rask has yet to win in D.C. in seven games at the Verizon Center, marking it as the lone Eastern Conference building Rask has yet to earn at least one point in.
Up next? Ha, the Canadiens. You know, the team that’s straight-up owned the Bruins over the last three years. Montreal took the first head-to-head between these teams this year, too, by way of a 4-2 final at TD Garden. Overall, the Black and Gold have won just two of their last 13 head-to-head affairs with the Habs. And this game is at the Bell Centre, where the Canadiens are undefeated this year.
It’s a quick turnaround for the Bruins after that undeniable schedule loss (although the status of
Carey Price could definitely change things for the B’s), and back to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for a kinda bizarre Sunday at 5 p.m. start. The B’s took the aforementioned Oct. 23 meeting against New York, but with those three games behind ‘em, the legs could be a little shot for Boston.
So, what’s the best case scenario for the Bruins on this four-game stretch? The obvious answer there is 4-0-0. But how realistic is that? Maybe 3-0-1 is a better best case scenario. But even that, I don’t know. Are you crazy for hoping for something along the lines of a 2-1-1 four-game swing? A five-of-eight stretch against these teams wouldn’t be the worst case scenario, if you asked me. Far from it. But what
would be the worst case scenario this week? The worst that you would accept? 1-2-1, maybe.
A week like that would put the B’s 2015-16 record at 6-5-2, and kill a lot of the good vibes that have come with their recent surge, even if the losses came against these aforementioned great clubs.
But that would fit right in with the roller coaster that is this team, too.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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