Boston Bruins In Jeopardy Of Missing The Playoffs.
Mar 12, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins goalie
Tuukka Rask(40) is surrounded by teammates after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in a shootout at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Bruins needed to win tonight. They had to take the surging Senators seriously and play one of their best games of the season, From start to finish they failed to do that. With their 6-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators, their grasp on the final Eastern Conference wild card is now just two points. In the last ten days, the Black and Gold have gone from being a stone throw away from a secure playoff position to a stone throw away from being kicked from the postseason.
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The Bruins upcoming schedule doesn’t exactly breed much confidence. Next week the Bruins are taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Anaheim Ducks, and the New York Rangers. The Black and Gold have to find their old game.
Reilly Smith was pulled tonight, and rode the bench for most of the third period. Smith has been having some serious trouble finding his game. When Smith finally got back on the ice, he was relegated to the fourth line. It’s safe to say that Smith is now the leading candidate for a healthy scratch in the immediate future. Brian Ferlin will likely get some more playing time as Claude Julien decides what kind of punishment he’ll wish to impose on his players.
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It’s not a complete disaster for the Bruins. They’re still only four points behind the Detroit Red Wings. The Bruins can recover and end up with the sixth or seventh overall playoff spot in the East. They just have to play to their brand of hockey. (Certainly not this Jekyll-and-Hyde [expletive] brand of hockey they’ve been playing this last week.) They’ve got to start playing the man, not the puck. They’ve got to have more confidence in Niklas Svedberg and a little less patience for Tuukka Rask’s bad games.
The last few weeks of hockey will determine if the Bruins continue their playoff streak with Claude Julien at the helm or fail to make the postseason for the first time since Julien took over as the bench boss for Boston. The B’s can play amazing hockey when they want to. Now, they’ve got no choice to play amazing hockey because they have to.