Boston Bruins: Unable to Take Home Points from California
By Andrew Dulac
Boston Bruins: Unable to take home points from California after dropping three straight to the Sharks, Ducks, and Kings.
The Bruins return to the East coast winless on the road and will look to rebound against the New York Rangers Wednesday night in New York. Despite being unable to earn a point in California, the Bruins did battle hard against the Sharks and the Kings dropping both of those games by only one goal. A positive sign the B’s can fight with some of the best in the league. Friday night in Anaheim was a game the Bruins will look to forget losing 4-0.
San Jose battled back after being down a goal heading into the second period Tuesday night and eventually took the lead on a power play goal just over six minutes into the third. The Bruins couldn’t respond and dropped the first game of the road trip 3-2.
In Anaheim, coming off two days rest from San Jose, the Bruins took the ice but didn’t show up mentally. Allowing two bad goals within the first five minutes, Boston did not recover. They held their own in the second but an early third period goal sealed their fate as the Ducks also netted another insurance goal late in the final frame.
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The Bruins fell behind 2-0 in LA within the first 25 minutes and their effort was not good. The rest of the game was a different story as the Bruins woke up and responded to LA’s second goal when Tyler Randel put the B’s on the board 3:06 later. Jonathan Quick stole the show the rest of the way and turned away 27 of the Bruins 28 total shots last night.
The Bruins were only outshot on this road trip once and came against the Sharks 27-23. They outshot the Ducks 38-26 despite being shut out and outshot the kings 28-20. Creating chances and getting pucks to the net wasn’t the issue throughout this trip; it was converting on those chances and putting pucks into the back of the net. Scoring only three goals while accumulating 89 shots is unacceptable.
After being swept this season by the three California teams, the Bruins mindset will shift to the post season push that awaits them. Boston has nine games remaining; four of them home and five of them on the road. The toughest stretch of this set of games is in the middle of this set and on the road in St. Louis and Chicago. Boston lost 2-0 to the Blues on December 22nd and defeated the Blackhawks 4-2 on March 3rd.
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The Bruins now sit in third place of the Atlantic division standings with 86 points, a point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, two behind the Florida Panthers, and hold a three-point lead over the Detroit Red Wings who currently sit in the second wild card spot. With their upcoming games against the Rangers, Panthers, and Maple Leafs, the Bruins should have an easier time going out and trying to earn some points than they did on the West coast but they will still have their hands full as these teams continue to fight for better seeding heading into the playoffs.