Apr 6, 2013; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien behind forward Milan Lucic (17) and forward Nathan Horton (18) and orward David Krejci (46) during the second period against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Wow. We’ve seen our share of the Bruins not playing a sixty minute game, but that 5-2 loss to the Flyers must have been the worst game they have played all season. I understand that they’ve got a really rough sprint to the start of the post season, and they’ve already got their ticket to the dance, but it just seemed like there was little to no passion on the ice last night. Thankfully, a visible disgusted Claude Julien agrees.

“That was definitely a step back in our game,” Julien told reporters. “You know, really poor puck management and poor decision making. To me, that’s a reflection of the guys not being ready to play. At one point, they’ve got to take the accountability of not being ready. We do a lot of work to prepare and it certainly reflects on us as well as a whole team, the coaching staff and everyone else. Too much of that lately and not enough focus. We’re running out of time to get this stuff going. You always hope that its’ some sort of a wakeup call, but with the way the season’s gone, you’re questioning whether it will or not. Only time will tell.”

There is no time left though. The only thing that has kept the Bruins atop the leader board with it’s 5-5-1 record in April is that Montreal has only gone 3-6 in its last nine games. Granted, it’s a slim chance at this point, but with so few games left there is still an outside chance that the Toronto Maple Leafs could over take both teams and end up winning the Northeast Division.  So, what are the Bruins doing wrong here, and is there any reason why they’ve slumped as of late. There is no time for excuses and again the coach agrees.

“Let’s stay away from excuses because it’s not gonna work.” stated a visibly annoyed Claude Julien. “Excuses is a lot of BS right now. We need to quit hiding behind those excuses because it’s a load of crap.”

So, lets assume for the moment that the coach went back into the locker room and read the Bruins the riot act. What can the Bruins do?

Scenario 1 – Coaching change. It has to be mentioned or suggested. We’ve got a team of (usually) aggressive point scorers playing into a defensive-minded system. Personally, most of the players seem to like playing into this system, and it has brought the once struggling franchise into the playoffs every year since Claude Julien took over as the head coach. He’s now the second on career wins for Boston coaches. While there are fans out there who believe CJ should go, I don’t think a coach change would be wise going into next season.

Scenario 2 – Change of general managers. My family have been rabid to the point of fanatical Red Sox fans for decades. One of my parents pointed out to me last season that no one seemed to like Theo Epstein until after he had left, and the Bobby Valentine disaster had gutted a one time champion club. While some people aren’t fans of Peter Chiarelli, he has been one of the major factors in the Bruins’ turn around. Just because he didn’t have another one of those amazing Phil Kessel trades up his sleeve this season, (although the more I watch him play,  the Jaromir Jagr trade slowly climbs towards that level) he’s done an excellent job in his position.

Scenario 3 – The healthy scratch stick. The coach is starting to use it, but I think he needs to use it more. Milan Lucic got his first healthy scratch since his rookie season last week. I think most of us agree that he should have been benched far earlier and more often in order to get a better performance out of him. Maybe the healthy scratch line should have seen more playing time this season just to prove a point to the players who believe their job is safe. I love how Lucic plays when he is on his ‘A’ game, but we haven’t seen nearly as much of that as we hoped to.

Scenario 4 – Line overhauls. With the exception of the Bergeron line (Patrice Bergeron-Brad Marchand-Tyler Seguin), we haven’t seen a solid performance from any of the offensive lines. We’ve seen players like Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille get bumped up because of injuries, play their hearts out, and get sent right back to the fourth line as soon as the injured player gets well. We keep seeing Jaromir Jagr being put in the third or even occasionally the fourth line. He may be in his forties, but most of us agree he plays with a skill and a passion that far belies the official age on his driver’s license.

Horton’s out for the remainder of the regular season. So why not move Jagr up there? Lucic is still playing like he’s not all there so let’s move Paille up. Figure out what to do with the Rubik’s cube that has been the third line all season. We’re in the playoffs so we might as well take these last few games and just really experiment with what could work. The Bruins need to figure out why things aren’t working and they have nearly no time left to implement a plan.

I can’t recall when a lack luster end season performance translated into a serious Stanley Cup run. Peter Chiarelli agrees as well.  “Teams don’t flip the switch, let’s be clear on that,” he said. “It just doesn’t happen. We have to put last night aside, build on what we had been building on in the previous three games. The results weren’t there, but we had good, strong successive periods. That made me feel better, and we have to go back to that.”

If we don’t, it’s another one and done year for the Black and Gold.

Mar 22, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien looks on from the bench against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs beat the Bruins 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Bruins head coach Claude Julien had a little surprise in store for the Bruins today at practice. After a rather painful 1-3 away trip,(with only six goals scored) the coach thought it was time to mix up the lines and try new ways to get production out of his players. Some players got moved up, some players got moved down, and Ryan Spooner got sent back to Providence. (The painful saga of the damaged third line claims another victim.) Here’s a quick look at the new line format”

First Line: Brad Marchand-David Krejci-Nathan Horton. Brad Marchand currently leads the team with thirteen goals, and is tied for second in points with David Krejci.  Marchand has matured from a chippy, bratty player who could play hockey to a great shooter (23%) that takes a little time out during the game to really tick off the other team. We have seen #63 do a lot of special teams work this season, and the promotion is well deserved. This new configuration looks to bring more finesse to the line, and Marchand’s speed will definitely be an asset to the Bruins’ main line.

Second Line: Daniel Paille-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin. Daniel Paille has been one of the pleasant surprises of the season. He has put in six goals so far this season, and the bump to the second line will only increase his chances. Paille has also seen an increased amount of work on special teams, and it reflects the coach’s confidence in him to see him get this promotion. He’s currently a +1, and that should only go up with his pairing with Seguin (+20) and Bergeron(+21). The second line has been the biggest producer for the Bruins so far this season. Thirty one goals, seventy three points and a combined +60.  While I like Marchy on the first line, I had to wonder how hard it must have been for the coach to break up what has worked so well so far this season.

It looks like I wasn’t alone on that one. When asked why Julien would break up this particular line he responded directly. “It’s been a good line, absolutely. But you can’t win with one line, so we’re trying to get a spark from our team. And sometimes…as a coach, you make a change and that’s what I’m able to do.  If it doesn’t work [then] it’s very easy to move guys around again or put lines together. It’s not a bad thing having those guys play with different players.”

Third Line: Milan Lucic-Rich Peverley-Jordan Caron. Milan Lucic has not been having a banner season to date. He’s fifth in overall points on the team, but has only put up four goals. Lucic’s physical game has also declined. (In my opinion, I think Looch lightened up due to the amount of ‘reputation’ penalties he has accrued this season. (He leads the team in PIM with fifty seven.) His +1 is also disappointing. Peverley , who got the ‘healthy scratch treatment’ in the last game against the Senators, will stay in place, and hopefully be motivated to improve. Jordan Caron is the latest in a series of attempts to make the third line work. I just hope he doesn’t get ‘Bourqued’ out and sent back to Providence.

Fourth Line: Jay Pandolfo-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton. Well, the NHL vet and former BU alumnus has been moved to the infamous Merlot Line. It looks like the job of keeping Soupy and Thorny out of jail has been passed on. It will balance out the PIM at least. (Pandolfo’s personal record for professional PIM is 24 with the Albany River Rats(AHL) in the ’97-’98 season.) Campbell and Thornton have produced for the B’s and having another experienced winger with Thornton should reap benefits here.

The coach was quickly asked by reporters why such a paradigm shift in the line make-up. Coach Julien was straight forward. “Because I can and because I’m the coach. When we have scored only 6 goals in the past 4 games, I think it’s time for a shake-up and every once in a while you have to do those things. It’s as simple as that.”

The Bruins will get to test out this new configuration tomorrow night. This time, the Leafs will come to the TD Garden to see if they can beat the Bruins again. The Bruins remain two points behind the Canadiens in the hunt for first place in the Northeast Division.

Mar 22, 2012; San Jose, CA, USA; Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien stands behind the bench before the third period against the San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion. San Jose defeated Boston 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-USA TODAY Sports

Last night, the Boston Bruins defeated the Florida Panthers 4-1. As an individual victory for the team, it has meaning. For head coach Claude Julien, it has a little bit more. Tonight’s win brings Claude Julien’s overall win total to 246. Last night he surpassed Milt Schmidt for second on the Bruins all-time win total for head coaches. For anyone in the Bruins organization to be compared to our own living legend, it has to be an awe inspiring. Joe Haggerty posted a Tweet with Coach Julien’s response.

Claude Julien moved past Milt Schmidt for 2nd all-time in Bruins franchise history w/246 wins: “Im a little humbled by whats happening here”

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) March 15, 2013

“I certainly don’t perceive myself to be in the same category as Milt Schmidt,” Julien said after the game.  “You’ve got to understand, it’s a different era. Ties were ties, and that’s the way it ended. We play 82 games, I think they played somewhere around the 60 mark, if not less. A lot different era, it’s a number. It’s a number of wins, but certainly not ready to compare myself to him. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Milt [Schmidt], and even for Grapes [Don Cherry]. Those guys have done a lot for the game. It’s something that’s nice, to know that you’re with them in regards to the number of wins, but certainly not willing to say I’m in the same category as them yet.”

Claude Julien took over as head coach on June 22, 2007. He is the twenty eighth head coach of the Boston Bruins. In his first season as coach, he led the Bruins back to the playoffs. He has brought the Bruins to the playoffs every year since. He’s also the coach that brought us the first Stanley Cup in a generation. Congratulations to Coach Julien on his achievement.  The Bruins will attempt to bring Julien one game closer to number one on Saturday afternoon in a game against the Washington Capitals.