Boston Bruins: Aiming For .500
The Boston Bruins are getting ready for Wednesday’s tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers. The B’s are still in the process of making necessary adjustments to their lines in order to get to their first .500 record of the season. When the B’s headed out for practice this morning, the Black and Gold had the following lines and pairings:
Matt Beleskey–David Krejci–David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Loui Eriksson/Brett Connolly
Chris Kelly–Ryan Spooner–Jimmy Hayes
Zac Rinaldo–Joonas Kemppainen–Maxime Talbot/Tyler Randell
I'm not sure about giving the healthy scratch to Connolly. There are better candidates to scratch (IMHO)
— Andrew E Thompson (@Godwentwhoops) October 17, 2015
I’m hoping the Bruins aren’t going to hit Connolly with another healthy scratch. The B’s touted his potential, and it would be a shame that we picked up someone just to have done the same thing they were doing for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins should play Connolly, even if they have to put him on the fourth line. (Sorry, Max Talbot. I like you as a player, but Connolly can do a lot more than you can in that position.)
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At this point, Claude Julien should be sorely tempted to make Chris Kelly the thirteenth forward and have Talbot head to Providence.
Joe Morrow-Zach Trotman
Dear Bruins....stick with Colin Miller with Chara... That's working. I'll say it again. THAT. IS. WORKING.
— Andrew E Thompson (@Godwentwhoops) October 15, 2015
It looks like the Bruins have solved part of their defensive problem, at least in the short-term. The Bruins captain has found another big body to work with, and so far the results are encouraging. Chara and Colin Miller work well together. Torey Krug has proven he can handle top-four responsibilities, and Kevan Miller can not only handle minutes but is more than willing to obliterate people on the ice if the need arises.
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Adam McQuaid still doesn’t look ready for top four minutes. Hopefully he can get there by the time Dennis Seidenberg gets back. It would be nice for the B’s to have some honest options with their defensive pairs. When Seidenberg returns, it will be a tight race to see who ends up in the number six and seven positions for the Black and Gold. Trotman has a solid lead over Cross and Morrow, but both of them are starting to look comfortable in NHL-level games.
Are the B’s still not as good without having Johnny Boychuk and Dougie Hamilton? Yes, but the gap is starting to close. The B’s needed to find something in the first five games, and while the first three games were certainly rough, the Bruins are making enough progress to reinforce my opinion that the B’s will be able to grab eighth spot in the Eastern Conference this season.
Gustavsson showed the fans that he was capable of being a solid back up in the Bruins win over the Colorado Avalanche. Tuukka Rask is finally shaking the rust off with his win over the Coyotes. Of the three goals put in by Arizona, two of those goals were caused by his own teammates restricting his movement, or (in the case of Chris Kelly) falling on top of him.
The Bruins should be able to defeat the Flyers and climb up to .500 on Wednesday. A .500 record would be a resounding morale boost for the team and the fans. It would also solidify the validation in Don Sweeney for all the changes he had to make to the team because of the actions of Peter Chiarelli.