After Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers at TD Garden, head coach Bruce Cassidy did not want to harp on what was an ugly performance by his hockey team. The loss snapped the Bruins 12-game home winning streak.
After the loss, although not pleased with the effort, Cassidy admitted he wasn’t too concerned. But, he also admitted if the bad habits illustrated in the loss carried over into Sunday and Tuesday’s contest in Columbus, he then would be concerned.
Well, for 40 minutes of hockey on Sunday, those bad habits were back.
An ugly first period against the Red Wings in Detroit provided the Bruins with a 2-0 deficit entering the second. A much better second period saw the Bruins score three unanswered goals to take a one-goal lead into the third. But once the third period came, the wheels fell off and the Red Wings were able to coast to a 6-3 victory with four third period goals.
With less than a week left in the regular season, the Bruins want to carry some positives into their playoff series with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"I don't know if that's complacency with being in the playoffs," said Backes who scored his seventh goal of the season in the loss Sunday. "But I certainly think that there's momentum carried into the playoffs and we've got three games regardless of our opponent to tune ourselves up so that we hit the ground running in the playoffs.…
Their play over the weekend certainly has caused some concern among Bruins fans, but I wouldn’t panic about it too much. The Bruins ended the regular season last year 5-5 in their last 10. The mediocre play to end the season didn’t seem to affect their play to start the playoffs, outscoring the Maple Leafs 12-4 in Game 1 and 2 victories.
“I think we need to take a step back, take a breath, and know what kind of effort it takes to win in this league and have 20 guys on that page when we come back and play the Columbus Blue Jackets,… added Backes.
The Bruins issues over the weekend were often self-inflicted. The play of goalies Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak didn’t help much either.
The two Bruins goaltenders allowed eight goals on 49 shots, but in each contest there were a handful of instances where you would have liked to see a save.
One being Troy Brouwer’s shorthanded goal against Rask on Saturday.
“I had a bad read because I thought the puck might, I might have had the chance to play it, you know, and then I was just way out of the net and it was a nice move,… Rask said Saturday. “But that’s one of those things that, one of the shots that you would like to have saved, especially on a 2-1 game on a power play, but, you know, I didn’t and that’s it. Hopefully next time I will.…
As off as Halak was on Sunday, he didn’t have much help in front of him as the Bruins struggled to contain the trio of Anthony Mantha, Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi who combined for 10 points—five of those from Mantha.
With three games left, and the second seed in the Atlantic division all but mathematically clinched, the Bruins have a few tasks to get through in this final week.
The most important task is staying healthy. The Bruins inched closer towards a fully healthy lineup this weekend as both Matt Grzelcyk and Kevan Miller returned to the lineup. Sean Kuraly and John Moore remain as the two lone injured Bruins.
The next task for Cassidy and company is to figure out how to balance out their top three lines, more so, what to do with Marcus Johansson.
Johansson’s tenure in Boston has not gotten off to the start anyone had hoped for. Sidelined for 10 games thanks to a lung contusion, Johansson has yet to find a pair of linemates to gel with, despite getting cracks on all three lines.
It’s not going to be an easy week for the Bruins with games against the Blue Jackets and Wild (Thursday) coming up, before ending the season at home, Saturday against the Lightning.
In the Blue Jackets and Wild, the Bruins will see two teams who will be fighting for their playoff lives. Ahead of the Leafs by six points—Toronto does have one game in hand—the Bruins hope to have the second seed locked up before they head to Minnesota Thursday.
There’s no need to slam the panic button, but it would certainly ease things a bit if the Bruins can put forth a better effort in these last three games.