Boston Bruins: Claude Julien Confident For B’s First Home Win
The Boston Bruins have started to find their legs this season. After a rough 0-3 start, the Black and Gold have put up a four game point streak and have begun the climb up the rankings. The Bruins have one of the best special teams squads in the NHL, and an offense that has been racking up goals this season. If the B’s can keep their defensive game going, they’ll easily earn their first win at home against the Arizona Coyotes tonight.
Claude Julien certainly wants a win for the team. After the Bruins dropped the first three games, the call for his head was nearly deafening. (Julien is only eight wins away from surpassing Art Ross for having the most amount of wins for a Boston Bruins head coach.) He’s made a lot of tweaks to the current roster, and the current configuration (the absence of Dennis Seidenberg not withstanding) is the best the B’s have had so far this season.
“I think we’ve had some rough outings here,” said the Bruins bench boss following yesterday’s practice at TD Garden. “I think our puck management has cost us a lot of games when you look at the goals that were scored against us here in our home building, so we’ve got to clean that up.”
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“From the last game, [in] the last two periods, we played more of ‘our game’ — became stingy with not giving that many shots, and we really pushed the pace the other way, and our forecheck and our resiliency was there. So you’ve got to bring that to your home games as well.”
“When you look at our record, I think we’re 3-0-1 in our last four games,” offered Julien. “So we lost the first three home games that we played, and they were the first games of the season, so you’d like to think that you’re trending in the right direction. The last [home] game was kind of one that was a frustrating one, but we’ll hopefully bring our A-game here tomorrow.”
The Bruins have been trending in the right direction. At this point, the only thing the B’s need is a little more confidence out of their number one goaltender.
Tuukka Rask certainly needs a solid game tonight. He’s currently 1-3-1 with a .854 save percentage and a four plus goals against average. There are backup goaltenders with more wins than Rask. (including his own back up, Jonas Gustavsson.) If Rask can finally find his game, and the B’s play to their strengths, then Claude Julien is right. The Bruins will finally see their first win on home ice tonight.