You could put Thomas Vanek in any uniform -- hell, maybe even the St. Louis Blues’ never-were jazz-cat jerseys -- and I’m sure he’d absolutely terrorize the Boston Bruins. While it’s not something I’d want to see (and something I know Mike Keenan wouldn’t want to see), I’m certain of it.
That doesn’t make the current state of the Bruins, who were downed by Vanek and the rest of the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on Saturday night, any less infuriating.
The Bruins, despite their 8-5-0 record, are bordering on unwatchable right now.
They look slow, they look tired (a month into the year-- how?), and they really don’t look like they care. Well, hold on-- They look like they care when they have to. Say, when they’re down by a goal or two with two minutes left. For their fans, many of whom traveled down to Long Island for this past weekend’s nightmare against the Blue and Orange, it’s absolutely maddening. This team is doing everything they can to lose games. Maybe not directly, sure, but literally every other possible way.
Deep down, this is what fans were afraid of when it came to the 2013-14 club.
Heading into the season, all we heard about was the pure talent of this squad, and rightfully so. They were suddenly deep just about everywhere, and added the players with the skill and experience a la Jarome Iginla and Loui Eriksson to take them to the next level. And for a club that came just two wins away from capturing their second Stanley Cup in three years, the next level is well, winning the Cup.
But as Claude Julien and the B’s are learning, you can’t win on just talent alone.
For Boston, there have been far too many passengers on Night A, Night B, and Night C. Too many one line efforts. Too many defensive lapses. And far too many complete no-shows from key players. That’s not to downplay on the competitive level of the Bruins’ opponents, because there’s no doubt that Kevin Poulin showed up for the game of his young career, but there’s just something lacking when it comes to this year’s Boston squad. Well, through 13 games, anyways.
And what did we learn from the Bruins’ lifeless effort against New York?
(Well, besides the fact that backup goaltender Chad Johnson may be the most uncomfortable goaltender I’ve ever watched play live in action, of course.)
The fire among the Black-and-Gold has been anything but consistent.
While forward Brad Marchand has become the poster boy of the Bruins’ struggles, he’s not the only guy failing to get the job done for the B’s right now. Not by a longshot. In fact, the guy that’s replaced Marchand on the Boston top six forward core (when it’s at 100 percent), 21-year-old Reilly Smith, has looked pedestrian at best as of late. Recording just one point in his last five games and finishing the night without a shot on goal in four of those five showings, Smith’s status as the club’s new Golden Boy is certainly fading. He’s been as ghostly as Marchand, who’s at least looking like a player trying to provide a spark. Something! Anything! Please?
Aside from Tuukka Rask, whose steady game has essentially kept the Bruins out of even more dangerous territory through a month of the season, the Bruins are a total toss up.
That’s, uhh, pretty anti-Julien.
Obviously, you can’t slam Boston for their recent struggles without acknowledging the injury to Loui Eriksson, which has put him on the shelf for the past five games. With Eriksson out of the lineup, the Bruins have scored just 11 goals (2.20 goals per game), while they scored 25 in eight games with him in action. Losing a player of Eriksson’s skill-set not only hurts the B’s second line, which has been hampered by inconsistencies all year long, but its trickle-down effect has been undeniably noticeable. Especially on the club’s (nightmarish) second power-play unit.
That was until the speedy Ryan Spooner was called up.
Recalled from Providence, where he began the year with two goals and seven points in eight games, the 5-foot-11 forward transitioned into Boston’s lineup seamlessly, recording his first NHL point in his first game of the season, and recording a power-play assist on Saturday. Bringing a strong skating game and crisp passing game to the Bruins’ third line, and definitely developing an early connection with 6-foot-3 winger Carl Soderberg, what did two points in two games get Spooner?
A ticket back to the American Hockey League.
(This is where that whole y’know, ‘infuriating’ thing, comes into play.)
If I’m the coach of the B’s, Spooner is the kind of player I want in my lineup.
Spooner, unlike most of his teammates right now, is willing to battle in all three zones. He fights hard in the corner, he races to negate every potential icing, and he brings a game that allows him to slide into any position in the B’s top three lines. In two games, and in a combined 23:41 of time on ice, Spooner’s brought more to the table than current extra skater Jordan Caron.
Sending him back down? Brutal move, even if Eriksson’s ready. The success of the Black-and-Gold has seemingly always come back to one line (or even one player) pushing the other. Spooner brought that dynamic to this lethargic offense. And yes, sending him down makes the most sense for the B’s front office because it is an option, but that doesn’t mean that it’s warranted. At all.
At the end of the day, however, you can’t fight the decisions the people way, way above you make, no matter how confusing or simply baffling they are, so you’re forced to look elsewhere.
That’s where the B’s schedule (potentially) comes into their favor. How does this week sound to you-- Seguin and the Stars in town on Tuesday, Thomas and the Panthers at the Garden on Thursday, and Phil Kessel and the Leafs here on Saturday night? It’s an old friend special!
And for whatever reason, the B’s seem to love welcoming their old friends back to the Hub with a game that typically results in an absolutely one-sided beatdown in the Bruins’ favor.
Though it’s hard to imagine the Bruins doing anything like that any time soon, no matter the opponent.