Four games. Four games in and it’s Panic! At the TD Garden.
Well, maybe panic isn’t the right word, but damn near close. Call it what you want, but this is not how you envisioned the Boston Bruins beginning their 2014-15 season. In four games, the Bruins have just one win, have been as disorganized as you can honestly remember in recent years, and have potted just four goals. They’re on pace for an 82-goal season. (I don’t need to tell you that that’s not enough, but with Tuukka Rask in net, I suppose all bets are off…)
You could point to so much right now, but I don’t think this one is on the goaltending, which has been solid through four games. Nor can you really fault a defense that’s honestly still taking its sans-Boychuk shape.
So, let us ask-- What exactly is going wrong for the Black and Gold? Well, for one (and perhaps their biggest issue), I don’t think this is a lineup that has enough scoring punch. Read as: Ability to finish.
In case their four-in-four offensive output hasn’t told you that (with just two goals at even-strength, no less), the Bruins are not rolling out the same high-flying attack they were a year ago. That was a legitimate concern too, I think, given the offseason loss of 30-goal scorer Jarome Iginla. The Bruins didn’t replace Iginla. They couldn’t. Unless you were a 30-30-60 talent willing to play for league minimum. That wasn’t the case. Simon Gagne was the closest talent they could find at that price, and even he hasn’t posted a 20-goal season in five years, nor did he even have a contract before Tuesday morning. Even so -- with Gagne now in at $600,000 -- you can’t depend on the 34-year-old to light it up like it’s Philly in 2005 over here.
“There’s no doubt we need better finish. But we just played a team on the other side [Colorado] that’s got a ton of it and they’ve scored two goals in three games. So, it’s not necessarily unique, but at the same time I think it’s early in the season and we’ve got to find our game,… Claude Julien said of his team’s early season struggles in the attacking zone. “I think a lot of guys are forcing things right now and that could be because of the situation that we’re in. So we’ve got to stop forcing things and make them happen. But the finish, whether it’s around the net or on our opportunities – it has to get better.…
That lack of finish does, again, I think come back to their inability to find a legitimate replacement for Iginla. Boston’s given that top-line right-wing job to a number of guys at this point, too. Loui Eriksson sort of won that job by default during the preseason, but his chemistry with Carl Soderberg on that third line is simply too valuable to the club at this very moment to break them up. So, the regular season began with Matt Fraser skating up there. He put up one shot in three games, though that was with Ryan Spooner as his center, not David Krejci. Then Seth Griffith got a look.
The 21-year-old Griffith is a right shot, yeah, but entered Monday with just 21 goals in 71 professional games, all at the American Hockey League level. He’s a talented prospect, no doubt, but he might be over his head.
“We’ve got Griffith on the right because Iginla’s not here – he’s on the other side,… Julien noted on Monday.
(For the record, Iginla has been gone since the beginning of July. This is not breaking news. So, I mean, if you wanna complain about not having the weapons you’d prefer on the wing of your first line, I’m sure you’d have easier access to general manager Peter Chiarelli’s cell phone than a roomful of reporters.)
This goes beyond the first line right wing, though. Top-line left winger Milan Lucic has gotten off to a painfully slow start, even if he’s rebounding from offseason wrist surgery (and though the Bruins continue to talk about how he’s ‘fine’ and that he’s been ‘cleared to play’), and can only be described as a non-factor. Brad Marchand is still without a goal. Spooner hasn’t been the power-play wizard everybody longed for. Even puck-moving defenseman Torey Krug’s offensive impact has been minimal at best.
But the Bruins are not yet at a stage where they look to the outside for the answers. They’ll continue to tinker with their lines (or they should, anyway) ‘cause they -- believe it or not -- have not tried everything yet. Namely moving Reilly Smith, a player that’s look more than ready for game action despite missing the few couple weeks of training camp, on up to the top line with Lucic and Krejci.
The 23-year-old Smith has one goal and two points in four games this season, and while both of his points have come on the power play this season, I think that he’s more of a known commodity than a Griffith or Fraser, and his skill set could blend with No. 17 and 46 much like Tyler Seguin’s did back in 2011-12. That switch would also allow the Bruins to put Griffith, Gagne, or Fraser on Patrice Bergeron’s right wing on Boston’s second line, a role that’s honestly brought success to almost anybody that’s skated on it. It also keeps the Eriksson-Soderberg connection together on the Bruins’ third line, which seems key above all else given their early season success, too. Boom, three scoring lines.
And though I’m sure I’m making it sound easier than it might be, but hey, when you’re averaging .50 goals per game at five-on-five, you’re not really running the risk of ruining some nonexistent chemistry.
Then there’s the chance this is much ado about nothing, something Iginla himself noted yesterday.
“Oh I think it’s early. I think everything is so magnified at the beginning of the season,… Iginla said of his former club’s slow start to the year. “I do follow, looking at the scores at night. I’ve got a lot of friends over on the other side, so I follow how they’re doing and stuff, and they’re close games. To get Krech [David Krejci] back will be a big boost. He’s a big part of the offense, big part of the team over there. And they’ve had some guys out, so I don’t doubt that they’ll be just fine and hard to play against as ever.…
With Gagne signed (and practicing on the fourth line with Spooner and Danny Paille) today, the Bruins sent Jordan Caron and Bobby Robins back down to the Providence Bruins of the AHL.