12/1 Bruins 2 – Red Wings 4
I sound like a broken record at this point in the season when I say that you need to beat the bad teams if you want to have a chance to be in the playoffs in this league. Not that you’re going to win every game against sub-par teams, but you need to have a better effort than that of the Bruins in this one. Although the Bruins were on the board first, it was a horrible goal to give up for the Red Wings. David Backes basically just through the puck on net from the half wall and after a funny hop, it beat Jimmy Howard.
Ryan Donato got the second goal of the game for the B’s in this on the power play. It’s great that he seems to found his offensive game after a short stint in Providence. Donato hasn’t played up to expectations this year, but in his second year, really his first year since he joined the team in the playoffs last season, we shouldn’t expect first line production from him. Hopefully he keeps scoring because this team needs guys that can put it in the net right now.
There was some excitement in this one as there was almost a complete line brawl. More importantly, we almost had a goalie fight, but for some unknown reason which makes me completely irate, the refs stepped in and stopped it.
As fighting has been dwindling in this league in the last few years, goalie fights are all but extinct. The refs stopped this one from happening, you’ve got to be kidding me. Let the boys go, ref, the fans want to see it. Maybe next time this happens we will actually see a goalie fight. Well anyways, the Bruins lost and it was very disappointing. Hopefully they bounce back in another game they ought to win when they head down to Florida to take on the Panthers in the first game of the Florida trip.
12/4 Bruins 0 – Panthers 5
I’m not ready to hit the panic button on the Bruins for this year, but I am getting close to doing so. Back-to-back losses against bottom of the table teams is absolutely horrible. Not to mention that now the Bruins have to play two of the top three teams in the Eastern Division in Tampa Bay and Toronto. Good luck. That’s all I have to say now. Good luck. There comes a time where you can’t use injuries as an excuse anymore and this team has been playing for a while now with this roster. You have to figure it out.
There really isn’t more I can say about this game. You see the score? Well that’s all you need. It was a poor effort and the Bruins just played horrible. Now you have to bounce back against Tampa Bay. Knowing the Bruins I wouldn’t be surprised if they win this game, but the way things have gone in the last two games I expect another loss. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
12/6 Bruins 2 – Lightening 3
Going into this game I had very little faith in the Bruins. The one positive going into this one was the fact that Charlie McAvoy was making his long anticipated return from concussion symptoms. I remained skeptical of the team, coming off two horrendous performances and going into Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay to face perhaps the best team in the Eastern Conference, I expected a slow start. However, I was wrong…for one period anyway. The Bruins got off to a very quick start when David Pastrnak opened the scoring in this one with a great shot on the rebound. Colby Cave took a shot from the blue line that Louis Domingue blocked but with a juicy rebound, perhaps his one bad error of the night. Pasta was able to jump all over it as he skated in front of the net and buried it past Domingue.
From here it was pretty much all downhill. The Lightening were able to tie the game later on in the first period and after a quiet second period, the Lightening came out of the tunnel with their namesake. They poured it on, scoring two quick goals to open this game up 3-1. The Bruins tried to get going midway through the third but really struggled to keep puck possession. It seemed as if Tampa controlled the neutral zone which they really did. While the Bruins did get some opportunities they just couldn’t get the offense going.
They did find some late life in this one as Tuukka Rask exited the goal with about two minutes left for the man advantage and David Krejci buried a slap shot to get within striking distance.
As they tried to tie the game up emptying the net once again, they just couldn’t beat Domingue a third time. The Lightening were able to hang on to finish this one off.
The Week Ahead
It doesn’t get much easier for the Bruins as their next game is back at home against a team they are looking up at in the standings, the Toronto Maple Leafs. They have remained one of the strongest teams in the division and have only gotten better after the return of William Nylander who held out until December 1st when he finally signed his contract just a half hour before the deadline to play this season. Puck drops in this one at 7pm on Saturday. Immediately after the game the B’s will hop on a flight up to Ottawa to take on a struggling Senators team which hopefully the Bruins can handle and maybe earn some confidence in their game as well as two points. This one is an early evening special with the puck dropping at 5pm on Sunday. They finish out the week earlier than usual as they go back to Boston to take on a sneaky good Arizona Coyotes team they just beat in Arizona on November 17th. This game is Tuesday the 11th at 7pm.
Videos courtesy of NHL.com and Youtube.com