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It took the Bruins 16 minutes and 55 seconds to put their first shot on net at Carolina netminder
Anton Khudobin. The ‘Canes got on the board with 34 seconds left in the first behind Pat Dwyer’s third goal of the season, and though
Patrice Bergeron scored in the second period,
Eric Staal and the ‘Canes prevailed in the shootout, sinking the B’s by a 2-1 final. It was a game where seven Boston forwards finished regulation without a single shot on net, the Bruins had just one shot on net through 16 minutes of a tied third period, and saw Tuukka Rask take the loss despite a 35-of-36 performance.
And ladies and gentlemen, the 2014-15 Boston Bruins have hit rock bottom. For now.
You don’t need to even look at the stats when it comes to this one, either. The Bruins were terrible. From start to finish, with the exception of Rask, they were a nightmare. They lost almost one-on-one battle (the ones they felt like engaging in, I guess), they were chasing pucks around the ice, and showed no signs of the effort they’ve nonsensically bragged about for the better part of a week. And this simply can’t continue.
This all sounds fanatical, and that’s fine, but can it honestly get much worse? You’re going against the second-worst team in the entire National Hockey League, and it takes you 17 minutes to get a shot on net? It takes
Gregory Campbell dropping the gloves to wake you up, and even then, you’re still sleeping?
That’s embarrassing. And the Black and Gold are out of excuses at this point.
The time to evaluate is by all means over. You’re 40 games into the season, and this is what you are. You have
Seth Griffith on your top line, you have a nightmare of a fourth line, and you’re at the point where you can actually file a missing persons report on the $6 million man,
Milan Lucic. They’ve been mad, they’ve been frustrated, and everything in between. But nothing has changed, and their 1-1-3 start since the end of the Christmas break has the early signs of their ultimate undoing. It’s simply unacceptable.
Even with the offseason loss of Jarome Iginla, this team has enough talent up front to be a top-eight team in the Eastern Conference. Even with the Johnny Boychuk trade, this defense is deep enough to be a top-eight team in the Eastern Conference. This is not a Peter Chiarelli problem, this is a team massively-underperforming-and-looking-like-they’re-waiting-for-a-savior problem.
It’s expected that Chiarelli and the rest of the B’s braintrust will make a trade, but there’s a problem with any trade he does make. Given the Bruins’ lack of cap space, any trade has some sense of finality to it. You can’t simply add a guy, see how it goes, and maybe add another piece. Considering the price you’ll have to pay for talent both in terms of assets heading the other way and the cap hit coming in, the trade that’s made is with made with the idea that it solves some of the B’s issues, namely that top-line right wing spot. (By the way, think of the pressure that’ll be put on that poor soul if/when he gets traded to Boston.)
A message has to be sent, though. And that’s on Chiarelli and company, ‘cause it sure won’t be sent from head coach Claude Julien at this point. Let’s just take a look at Sunday’s overtime. With matching minors, the Bruins were set to skate with a 3-on-3 to finish the final minute plus of the five-minute overtime frame. The Bruins put Dougie Hamilton out there (OK), David Krejci out up front (sure), and Lucic to his left. So, if there are repercussions for playing poorly, not living up to your game, and being generally ineffective, then Milan Lucic should be all the way at the end of the bench for that finish. Period. Lucic has been a ghost for far too long. He has just one goal in his last 17 games. Even with Krejci, he’s looked like a shell of himself. This was on the heels of Lucic and Julien having a ‘long conversation’ before Sunday’s game, too.
Still, you got nothing. That’s been the case for so many this year, too. It’s hit a breaking point though, and it has to be addressed. This is typically where you’ll see a general manager ‘send a message’ by moving a high-priced veteran out to show that nobody’s invincible. But given this team’s bevy of players with no-movement clauses, who becomes the sacrificial lamb? A fourth line player like Campbell or Danny Paille? A third-pairing defender like Matt Bartkowski or Adam McQuaid? Even so, that doesn’t do much of anything for the B’s given these players’ worth and who’s the say that the Black and Gold believe they have the luxury of the depth to even make a move like that, even if it’s to simply piss the rest of that locker room off.
But what other option do they have at this point? Almost all of the guys in that locker room have been part of a deep Stanley Cup run -- whether that was in 2011 or 2013 -- and have the talent to contribute enough to push them beyond what they are at this very moment. But they’re not, and that’s on them, not any summertime inactivity. With each loss, their talk of ‘strong efforts’ and constant woe-is-me whining about their ‘lack of bounces’ has become a cheap and insulting copout to a fanbase that’s deservedly expecting more.
And if this team’s problem is that they don’t have enough talent to hang with the Carolinas and Ottawas of the world, then.. well.. the Patriots start their playoff run next Saturday.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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