Boston Bruins: One Game At A Time
The Boston Bruins are currently riding a season high five-game win streak. Even though the Bruins have been climbing up in the standings, their recent lack of playing has let other teams catch up. The Bruins are eighth in the Eastern Conference, but have at least one game on hand on every team ahead of them.
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The Bruins have been finding ways to win, despite their inconsistent play. They were able to steal two points from Detroit and the Rangers in their last two games. Thankfully, their special teams units have risen to the challenge. The Bruins power play is still a dominating force, despite the defensive tweaks made by Claude Julien. The penalty kill has improved greatly over the last few weeks, with the Bruins passing the 75 percent mark. Still, the team knows they’ve got to play to their strengths and play intelligent go minute hockey games if they want to keep winning.
“We did some things well,” said Bruins captain Zdeno Chara of their current win streak. “We did some things that we need to improve and keep working on and keep getting better. It’s nice to win games, it’s nice to be getting points, but I think we want to also improve our play, system-wise, and be better in certain areas. That’s the key for us: keep trying to get better.
“It’s something that we’ve got to continue to obviously work on and keep getting better. I don’t think we are over the hump; I think we want to be one of the best teams in the league as far as killing penalties. We always have done that. We’ve always been one of those teams. We had a rough start, so we were in a hole and we’re slowly getting out of it. But it doesn’t mean we are obviously up there where we want to be.”
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The Bruins road trip up through Western Canada gives the team an opportunity to gather much-needed points. Thankfully, the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames are riding the bottom of the standings in the Pacific Division and the league. The Bruins (who are still a top five offensive power house) should be able to hammer home the goals against two teams that have a combined -45 goal differential. The Vancouver Canucks have played more consistent hockey then the other two teams, and they should be the B’s toughest challenge while out west.
“I think we can’t get too high,” offered Patrice Bergeron after Monday’s practice. “Obviously, we know in at least two of the games that we came back and found a way to win, but still, it wasn’t our best effort, especially in Detroit. We didn’t deserve the win, and then we got two points. So we have to take it, and I thought we built and we showed some great character against New York.
“That’s the way that we want to play heading in toward Edmonton.”
The Bruins have yet to play any of these three teams this season. So, the Bruins have been looking at the footage, and doing what they can. Just because two of the three teams have been terribly inconsistent on the ice, it doesn’t mean that they’re not dangerous. Still, the Bruins will do well if they stick to their game and play one game at a time.
“It’s always a challenge,” Bergeron said. “There’s some faces that you haven’t really seen before, and trying to get used to them, and there’s tendencies sometimes that you need to look at video and see what you’re up against. At the same time, I think we watch the highlights and we watch some of the games around the league, and we know that it’s going to be a challenge for us.”