Door left open: Bruins struggle to close out opponents

Don’t look now, but the Bruins are on a roll!  They have won two games in a row and have earned a point in each of their last four!  Ok, maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.  Still, despite the short but sweet winning streak, the black and gold have had more trouble closing out games than post-surgery Eric Gagne.

On Thursday night, the Bruins blew a two-goal advantage to the Canadiens before losing in a shootout.  The cookie crumbled late in the second period.  Though the Bruins had chances on the power-play in the third period and overtime, they failed to generate any offense.

On Saturday, it was more of the same.  The B’s blew yet another two-goal lead en route to another 3-2 shootout loss to the Canucks.  You could see this one coming from a mile away once Mason Raymond got Vancouver on the board in the second period

The Bruins played their first complete game in a while on Sunday in a 3-0 win over the Canadiens, but were right back to their blood-pressure raising, heart-pounding, banging your head against the wall because you can see it coming but just can’t stop it-ways on Tuesday night in Buffalo.  Once again the Bruins blew a two goal lead and entered a shootout tied 2-2.  Fortunately, they were able to pull out a win, but Tuukka Rask had to stand on his head for them to do it.  Now I’m a firm believer that a win’s a win.  If things don’t change though and the Bruins don’t learn how to close out games, they are going to consistently add to the loss column down the stretch.

Once the first goal comes for the opposition, you can’t help but expect more to follow as a Bruins fan.  It seems as though the B’s get too complacent upon building a lead, especially when that lead exceeds a one-goal margin.  As I mentioned, the Bruins finally played a complete game on Sunday.  Another one is a necessity before going into the break.