by Bob Morello
Bruins Winding down…
The Bruins are still battling hard, despite six losses in a row, a stat that is magnified by the number of goals scored (11), and goals allowed (30). Three of those losses happening in the first three games of their five game road trip, beginning with defeats applied by Vegas Golden Knights, San Jose Sharks, and Sunday night’s 7-2 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings. There were a few encouraging moments, such as the Elias Lindholm putting the puck in the back of the Los Angeles net a mere 19 seconds after the drop of the puck to start the Kings game, the speed of Fabian Lysell and the aggressive play of Marat Khusnutdinov in Sunday’s loss. Another lone highlight, Morgan Geekie scoring his 25th goal of the season. The disappointments are mounting with each loss, Boston knew they would be in for a fight coming in, as the Kings have been unstoppable on home ice, picking up points in their last 14 home games. During that point streak the Kings are 11-0-3, winning eight of the last nine, and boasting six consecutive wins.
The Bruins have seen their regular season record drop faster than the recent Dow Jones average, as they continue to spiral down below the .500 mark with a record of 30-33-9. Boston’s offense continues to sputter, as was obvious, especially in the third period, when the locals only shot on net was by defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, a reality that has happened much too often of late, with the team unable to maintain any offensive rhythm. Another issue has been the ability of teams to come in on the Bruins goaltenders unabated, without a single response from the Boston defense. It must be painful for Bruins management to watch their $8.25 million goaltender Swayman, surrender seven goals to the Kings on Sunday, and only make 16 saves on the night. Surely a season to forget for Swayman who has now allowed 155 goals in the 51 games he has started…giving him poor stats that include: 3.12 goals-against-average, and a save percentage of .892.
Interim head coach Joe Sacco has rolled with the influx of new faces, doing what he can to fit players in where he hopes they might prosper, but several of the moves are crushed by the pressure of the team trying to get into one of the two wild card spots. Sacco offered comments of encouragement before the Kings game: “Anytime you’re going through a situation like we’re in right now, it’s always hard, but I think that for the most part we do a good job of talking about the game and then we put it behind us, and we move on to the next game, I think that’s the most important thing. We have a lot of new players, we have a lot of young players in our lineup right now, so they’re learning how we go about our business day to day and our routine and our structure still, but they’re part of it, too, and they have to learn the process that goes on here.” The Bruins’ – lost weekend began with the stop in San Jose on Saturday, to take on the Sharks, a team that sits at the very bottom of the National Hockey League standings. The night ended with a 3-1 Bruins loss, in game that had two local college players delivering some timely plays for San Jose. Macklin Celebrini (Boston University), earned assists #30/31, on goals by William Eklund and Lucas Carlsson, and Will Smith (Boston College) earned his 21st assist, also on Carlsson’s goal. Just a bit of local flavor, eh? Ten games remain to be played in Boston’s regular season, with the Bruins trailing the Montreal Canadiens by a half-dozen points for the second wild card spot, plus Montreal holds three games in hand. The ‘wishing-and-hoping’ appears to be over – if not mathematically, still over! Next up for Boston are two road games – Wednesday 10:00pm versus Anaheim, and they end their road trip, and the month of March on Saturday 8:00pm in Detroit. Tuesday, April 1st at 7:00pm, the Bruins will host the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin, as the GR8 chase continues with Ovechkin in pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring totals.