Oct 15, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton (27) skates with the puck defended by Detroit Red Wings left wing Johan Franzen (93) in overtime at Joe Louis Arena. Boston won 3-2 in an overtime shootout. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
There isn’t much time or room for the Bruins to keep experimenting with ways to find consistency and success as they sit looking up at the Florida Panthers int he Standings, clinging to a Wild Card slot. With playoffs just around the corner and both Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic questionable for suiting up today, the playoff dream just slipped a little further out of reach.
I’m not saying that a couple of players can make or break this team, but we have to be realistic here. Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron are two players that have been able to produce for the team throughout the duration of this season. In the absence of David Krejci, the Bruins struggled to find ways to score. Since getting him back, they’ve gotten a little bit of their groove back. Now we’re going to eliminate two players who have experience, grit, pride and determination in their blood and expect to find winning ways? Upper management HAS to do SOMETHING and fast. It is easy to see that the Boston Bruins have been trying anything and everything possible to make things go in their favor. While the way the whistle blows can be blamed for a few games, the fact of the matter remains that the Bruins are just having a bad season.
Puck Prose
The Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings have met two times already this season and have split the series. The Red Wings won the first meeting 2-1 on October 9 and the Bruins took home the second meeting on October 22 with a 3-2 shootout victory. Tonight they are back at the Garden facing off against the Detroit Red Wings, a team that has also been struggling as of late in the victory column. We teamed up with Peter Fish of Octopus Thrower to try and gain a better understanding of what we can expect to see tonight.
Your team was recently on a losing streak, but they have snapped it (congratulations). What were the key components to them turning things around?
The defense tightened up and allowed less chances on net for their opponents and the offense was finally able to snap out of their funk. The Red Wings scored six goals during their six game losing streak, but since snapping that streak against the Sabres, they now have nine goals in their past two games.
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Was it a specific few players, a whole team effort, improved goaltending?
Team effort. When a team is on an extended losing streak, the whole team needs to pull together and get it done. One player might be able to spark the turnaround, but it takes the team playing well together to snap the streak.
The Red Wings have always given the Bruins a run for their money, can we expect to see the same thing tonight?
I believe so, the Red Wings are playing well right now and any defensive lapses are being covered up by Jimmy Howard or Petr Mrazek in net. On offense, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are a two headed beast that makes life tough on any defensive pairing, but right behind them are Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar and both of them are game changers as well.
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Who should be on the Bruins radar tonight?
Stephen Weiss. Sounds like an odd choice, but the Red Wings play better and are a deeper team with him in the line-up and he seems to be in the right places at the right time at even strength or on the power play. The Red Wings will look for him and the Bruins need to be aware.
So there we have it, the Detroit Red Wings dropped six-straight but were able to collectively find the determination they needed to turn things around. Perhaps the Bruins should take some notes tonight to find some answers that they are in dire need of. Faceoff is at 7:00PM ET and can be seen on NESN if you are unable to attend the game.