Having lost the last six games, the Boston Bruins are in dire need of a turnaround. With one difficult leg of their 5-game road trip left, as well as a few more challenging match-ups this week, the B’s will need to completely change their game in order to take any points and stay in contention for a postseason spot.
Chicago Blackhawks
“Everyone’s acting like it’s the end of the world. We’re still in a playoff spot and we’ve still got a really good team in here, I don’t think anyone’s worried in here.” Brad Marchand on their recent losing streak.
Today, at 3:30pm EST the Boston Bruins will face the red-hot Chicago Blackhawks for the second and final time this year. In their first meeting, the B’s fell to the Hawks 2-3. After falling behind 0-3, Brad Marchand and Reilly Smith teamed up to get the B’s on the board at 18:37 of the second. Krug brought them within one at 12:17 of the 3rd and a win started to look promising. Unfortunately, in the end they didn’t have enough steam to overcome the Hawks early lead. Chicago is currently holding a top four spot in the Western Conference so the Bruins will have to bring their A game. Having to play without their top line center, David Krejci, who suffered a lower body injury in the game against the St. Louis Blues, the Bruins forwards – and especially their defense – will have to put all of their effort into the game to notch the 2 points.
Vancouver Canucks
For the second and final time this year, the Bruins will face the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday February 24th at 7pm EST. The last time these two met, the B’s lost 2-5 and it was quite an ugly loss. Just 1:41 into the first period, Zack Kassian of the Canucks stole the puck from Torey Krug due to some sloppy puck handing in the neutral zone – from all B’s players – and made a clean pass to Shawn Matthias for the first point of the night. Just a few minutes later, Matthias got his second due to more pathetic defensive play from the B’s. Patrice Bergeron was able to land an unassisted goal and the B’s went into the second trailing by one. Heading into the third, the score was 1-3 in favor of the Canucks, but Chris Kelly gave the Bruins some hope with an unassisted goal at 5:41 of the third. Just 25 seconds later all hope was lost when Matthias tallied a hat trick. The defense were basically non-existent in this game, which has unfortunately been a trend this year. If they want to come out of this game with a win, the forwards and blueliners will need to play smart hockey and be in sync.
NJ Devils
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On Friday February 27th at 7pm EST, the Boston Bruins will head to New Jersey to take on the Devils, a team that they have had good luck against this year. The Bruins came out on top in both matchups with a 2-4 and 0-3 win. The Devils are struggling this year and are currently sitting well out of a postseason spot. However, this doesn’t mean that it will be an easy win for the B’s. As they showed in their pathetic matchup against the Edmonton Oilers last week, even the worst team can make the B’s look amateur.
Arizona Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes are another team that has struggled greatly this year. The Bruins will face them on Saturday February 28th at 5:30pm EST. As one of the worst teams in the Western Conference, the Coyotes have not had much luck this year and are currently on a 5-game losing streak. The last time these two teams met up, the B’s dominated with a 5-2 win. Let’s hope they can come out on top again by using the same momentum and smart play as before.