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Do teams “smell blood” with Chara and Miller missing from Bruins lineup? |
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When the Bruins sent Adam McQuaid to the New York Rangers during the offseason, McQuaid took a good chunk of the Bruins toughness to New York with him. With Zdeno Chara and Kevan Miller on the roster, the Bruins still had a pair of guys who could police things on the ice.
But now with Chara and Miller out of the lineup with respective injuries, it seems like teams are taking notice that the Bruins are lacking toughness and they’re taking full advantage of it.
“Could be. Could very well be. We still feel we have guys in the lineup that will answer the bell,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy. “Sometimes that...psychologically the group looks at the board and it’s not as hard to come in when you’re missing Zee or Miller, is it?”
With Detroit in town Saturday night, the Bruins saw a more physical Red Wings club. Or as Cassidy put it, a team with more fire than usual.
“I don’t know if players are targeting our guys a little more now. Detroit tonight, that’s probably the most fire I’ve seen in their group come into this building in a long time. They’re usually not nearly as spirited. It’s been a while,” added Cassidy.
“I don’t know if that has something to do with that they’ve changed a bit of their group or if it’s more that Zee’s [Chara] out, Miller’s out, Bergy’s [Patrice Bergeron] out, some of our veteran guys, and they smell blood. I don’t know. You’re going to have to ask them that.”
Over the last few games, you’ve started to notice that teams have been targeting players like David Pastrnak, Marchand and Krejci.
Saturday was the second time in as many games Krejci was the victim of a big hit. Saturday's hit on Krejci was clean and would still have come had Chara or Miller been on the ice. But without the two bruising defensemen out there, the hits have become more magnified.
“You haven’t seen as much of that, and I think it was clean again, so part of that will be, Krech [Krejci] – he’s pretty good at recognizing those areas,” said Cassidy. “I’ve watched him for a while now get through there, and he’s pretty slippery, recognizing who’s coming and still keeping control of the puck and sliding by. In the last two games he hasn’t been as aware, I guess.”
After Luke Witkowski’s hit on Krejci, Marchand decided to return the favor with a big hit against the boards on Nick Jensen. The hit on Jensen didn’t sit well with Tyler Bertuzzi, who it seemed like was asking everyone in Black and Gold to fight in this one. With Marchand not willing to drop them with Bertuzzi, he tried to take matters into his own hands, going after Marchand. The move led to chaos on the ice. Goalies Tuukka Rask and Jimmy Howard were even willing to go at, but the referees quickly shot down the potential goalie fight.
“You need to get at least one under your belt in your career,” said Rask. “I saw the opportunity and I know Jimmy pretty well. Big fight coming up tonight so, I feel like set the stage for that."
The game was certainly one of the more chipper ones the Bruins have seen this season. With the Bruins getting pushed around physically, Joakim Nordstrom answered the bell, dropping the gloves with Witkowski.
The fight woke the Bruins up as they went on to dominate the final period. But unfortunately the bounces didn’t go there way as Detroit walked out the winners, 4-2.
“I thought it kind of woke us up a little bit. We dominated that third period. That was tough that they got a bounce to go their way. We had a few go against us, but Nordy [Nordstrom] did a phenomenal job stepping up there and kind of set the tempo,” Marchand said. “We went out after that, and it was a little more physical, but I thought it kind of woke us up in the third there.”
The Bruins don’t need to go out tomorrow and sign an enforcer. The Bruins also do not need to go and reacquire a struggling Milan Lucic as some on Twitter have suggested. The Bruins need to simply get healthy.
Getting healthy will solve more than one of the issues currently facing the team.
Boston Bruins Blogger • 
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