The Boston Bruins are back at the TD Garden after a rough cross-continent road trip. The B’s went 1-2-2 in those five games. Missed opportunities have given other teams the chance to get back in the playoff race. The Florida Panthers are just three points behind the Black and Gold, and the Philadelphia Flyers are just four points back.
The Bruins know they’ve got to come home and put up the points if they wish to head back to the playoffs.
“I know that the score last game was really disappointing,” said Claude Julien of the road trip. “Yet I felt that our team had worked hard, played well, and besides not scoring — and the other way around, the kind of goals that went in — makes a big difference in the psyche. But you had 15 shots only allowed against St. Louis. You could see things stating to come around, and was about being confident and showing your confidence.”
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“I thought we had a good first, but then, near the end, our emotions started getting the better of us again, and we had to settle our team down. A couple of penalties there at the beginning, but our penalty kill did a great job, and our 5-on-5, I thought we did a great job.”
Puck Prose
“Obviously, we struggled during this road trip, but it was a good, convincing win,” said Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli after the Blackhawks game. “Again, it’s not up to where we should have been on the overall road trip, but if you look back to the last period of the Edmonton game , I think our legs and hands are coming around. I liked the way we skated with the puck in the St. Louis game , and , too — so some promising signs.”
Indeed, there were promising signs. The Bruins had to call up Ryan Spooner to replace David Krejci(who likely won’t be back until the post-season(if applicable)). Spooner acquitted himself well in his first game back in Boston. He notched an assist (and his first NHL point of the season) on the Milan Lucic goal and was able to give time and space for Dougie Hamilton to get his power play goal later in the game. Brian Ferlin was in for Kevan Miller (who is out for the season). Ferlin also earned his first NHL point with his assist on Gregory Campbell’s goal. While he had some limited ice time, he made the most of his seven plus minutes on the ice for Boston.
Now the Bruins are back at the TD Garden to take on the Vancouver Canucks, who have injury problems of their own. Eddie Lack will be in goal for Vancouver. The Bruins will need to play with the same passion and focus that led them to a solid win over Chicago.