Be sure to 'like' Hockeybuzz on Facebook!
The standings haven’t buried them (yet), but with each loss, and after an embarrassing 6-2 loss in Columbus this past Saturday, doomsday has seemed all too near for the Boston Bruins in 2014-15. Struggling to be anything more than a middling, mediocre team near the halfway point of the regular season, it seems as if everybody has been waiting for the B’s to realize that they’re in ‘desperation mode’ and simply play like it.
A three-goal, 19-shot opening frame showed plenty of that desperate energy, and propelled the Black and Gold to a 5-2 win over the Atlantic’s second-best club, the Detroit Red Wings, on Monday night.
“It was pretty obvious tonight that there was a bigger determination and commitment to working hard from start to finish,… B’s coach Claude Julien said after the win, giving Boston wins in three of their last four games. “We need to understand that this is how we have to play and be successful.…
Boston scored their three first-period tallies with a quick fury, too, with Reilly Smith scoring his ninth goal of the year just 2:44 in, while Gregory Campbell (his fourth of the year) and Carl Soderberg (his seventh) scored late period goals just 1:13 apart (16:12 and 17:25).
It seemed like a direct response to a damning start in Boston’s last outing, especially with Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic out of the lineup, but the B’s bench boss called it more of a realization for a Boston squad that’s done their best to bend but not break in the standings.
“There’s been more embarrassments throughout the year than just [the Columbus] game,… Julien admitted. “I think it was more about we need to make a decision here how we want to play this year and whether we want to make the playoffs, and if we do we have to be a better team and tonight they responded and that’s what I wanted to see from our team, so it’s the kind of game that we need from here on in, night in, night out.…
Detroit made it game, however, with a second period power-play marker from Tomas Tatar, cutting the B’s lead to just one after 40 minutes of play, but a power-play goal from Seth Griffith (his first goal in 11 games and his sixth of the season) and a Chris Kelly empty-netter sealed the deal on a B’s win.
It was a little bit of everything for the Bruins in this win, their second in three head-to-heads against the Wings this season, and came behind a season-high 45 shots thrown at the Wings’ Jimmy Howard.
The Bruins played with a purpose. They rolled four lines -- including a youthful line featuring Griffith, Craig Cunningham and Matt Lindblad -- and executed with urgency.
“The urgency is definitely there. We know we all haven’t been our best and we know we can all be better,… Brad Marchand said after the win. “I think when you do look in the mirror and realize that you have a lot more to give and you see the video and realize that the effort really isn’t there and you can push a little bit harder, it makes a big difference. Like I said before, that effort showed tonight.
“We always knew we had a good team in in here. It showed tonight. We still have it, we just can’t get comfortable, we can’t allow ourselves to think that we’re out of this rut that we’ve been in. It’s going to take an effort every night, like tonight, if were going to give ourselves an opportunity to get back in the playoff race. I think we got a great leadership group in here, great bunch of guys. We know that we need that effort and were going to continue to work on it in practice every day and hopefully we can continue to carry that into games.…
As great of a win as they had on Monday night, it’ll mean absolutely nothing if the Bruins get their doors blown off by Toronto on Wednesday night, or Ottawa on Saturday afternoon. Or even Carolina on Sunday afternoon. They’ll have to build off this, and actually, y’know, build some momentum.
“We played a pretty good 60 minutes, but we’ve done this before in the season and we followed up with a bad game,… Boston top-liner David Krejci noted. “We have to realize that and regroup tomorrow and have a good practice and make sure we are ready for tomorrow.…
The victory gives the Bruins a 19-15-3 record on the year, and puts them just two points away from the Toronto Maple Leafs (whom they play on Wednesday night) for the top wild card spot in the East.
Random thoughts and foolery
- Some nights, it just looks too easy for the Bruins’ third line (or perhaps scoring line is the preferred name at this point) of Chris Kelly, Loui Eriksson, and centerman Carl Soderberg. It seemed that this trio simply danced around Detroit skaters in the attacking zone, found open defensemen, and pummeled away. They undoubtedly get away with the benefit of favorable matchups on home ice, but this line is growing, even against tighter competition like the Niklas Kronwall-Jonathan Ericsson pairing they battled on Monday.
Soderberg had a goal. Eriksson had two assists (he has six goals and 10 points in his last 10 games played). And Kelly extended his point-streak to a career-best six games. They were buzzing throughout.
- Based on the reactions you heard today, you’d think that Matt Fraser was something more than a player that had more than five goals and zero assists in 38 games with the Boston Bruins. Claimed by Edmonton off the waiver wire, the Bruins did lose out on a winger with a great shot, but also lost out on a player that they simply didn’t appear to have room for. While he played both the left and right wing during his brief tenure with the Black and Gold, Fraser is a natural left winger, and prefers to skate there. He also requires a strong centerman feeding him the puck on a nightly basis. He was not going to get that logging fourth-line minutes for the Bruins, nor was he going to bump Lucic or Marchand out of the top six. Still, it seems like a bitter pill to swallow when you see yourself lose this player for nothing, especially when your scouting department nabbed him as one of the pieces you wanted in the now infamous Tyler Seguin trade.
- And how about this sweet overtime goal by Boston top prospect David Pastrnak tonight?
Up next
The Bruins return to the ice for a New Year’s Eve night showdown against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It will be the third meeting between the two this season, with Boston taking one and Toronto the other, but will be the first between the two on Garden ice this season. This will be the third of four meetings between the two in 2014-15, with Toronto taking the last one by a 6-1 final at the Air Canada Centre on Nov 12.
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