Believe it or not, fortune has favored the Boston Bruins this season. With five games left in their insanely up-and-down season, and finally on even footing with the Detroit Red Wings (who trail the Bruins by just a single point) with help of the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, the Black and Gold are still in control of their own fate. Their schedule, however, is not one you’d exactly call fortunate.
In St. Louis for a game with a Blues squad that’s won eight of their last 10, and allowed just one goal in their last five games, the Bruins know it’s going to take everything in their barrel to escape with a win.
B’s coach Claude Julien really emphasised both himself and the team controlling what they can, and playing more than a simple road game when it comes to handling the Blues and Sunday’s opponent, the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
But above all else, what would help the Bruins escape this two-game stretch with four points would be the team finally coming through with some actual capitalization on their chances.
The Bruins put 40 shots on Keith Kinkaid in their loss to New Jersey on Tuesday, but walked away with just one goal. Over their last two games, the Bruins have put 73 shots on goal, and have just four goals to show for it, one of which being an empty-netter marker, too. The finish needs to improve.
‘Cause just 10 goals in their last seven games won’t get it done against these teams.
One idea the Bruins could experiment with, at least based on the end of the Jersey game and the practices that have since followed, is plugging Loui Eriksson on the right wing of the Boston first line centered by Patrice Bergeron and with Brad Marchand on the left side.
Eriksson has 12 goals and 18 points in his last 28 games played.
In net, the Bruins will give this start to Tuukka Rask. The 29-year-old took a bad loss behind a 13-of-15 night against the Devils on Tuesday, and has just one win in his last six starts.
The Blues will counter with Brian Elliott. The veteran Elliott has been a monster since his return to the St. Louis crease, with four wins, a .989 save percentage, and just one goal against in four games. That goal came in Elliott’s last start, too, a 20-of-21 showing against the Avalanche on Tuesday.
Other news and notes
Both forward Brett Connolly and defenseman Dennis Seidenberg remained in Boston for this two-game road trip with undisclosed injuries, which likely means that John-Michael Liles is good to go. The Bruins are carrying Seth Griffith as an extra forward, but returned fellow emergency recall Austin Czarnik to the AHL after practice on Thursday.
Some good news? According to TSN, the Bruins have signed Boston University Terriers defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to an entry-level deal. Drafted by the Bruins in the third round of the 2012 NHL Draft, there was some slight concern in regards to Grzelcyk testing the open market as an unrestricted free agent on Aug. 15, but with loyalty between the Bruins and Grzelcyk there, that was not an issue.
The 5-foot-10 defenseman from Charlestown, Mass., tallied 26 goals and 95 points in 125 games for BU.