Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Bruins simply didn’t have enough left in the tank to complete the comeback against the San Jose Sharks and ended up with zero points in the second of their last three home games.
Puck Prose
The Bruins have allowed at least five goals in five of their nine home games so far this season. While Tuukka Rask shares in the blame for any goal that is scored on him, the burden cannot, and should not fall solely on his shoulders. The Bruins defense simply isn’t getting the job done in their own zone and that has led to many open scoring opportunities for opposing teams. Tuukka Rask, regardless of his Goals Against Average, and Save Percentage, has kept the Bruins in a few games this season with the help of his offense, but something has to give if the Bruins want to come away with points. With five penalties taken in the game, including one at the 17:20 mark of the third period, the Bruins once again hindered any chance they might have had at making a comeback in the game. The offense of the Bruins however, was stellar once again, posting four goals in the game from four different goal scorers.
The scoring opened for the Bruins with Tyler Randell once again sitting in front of the net and deflecting a shot from Dennis Seidenberg. The go-ahead goal for the Bruins came just over two minutes later when Brad Marchand scored on the Bruins first power play opportunity. The Bruins power play continues to be one of the lone bright spots on the season, but their defense and penalty killing continue to be their Kryptonite. The Bruins ended the first period tied at two, and things only went downhill from there. With a three goal — two of which coming on the power play — second period, the San Jose Sharks entered the third period with a two goal lead which proved to be enough with the Bruins finding the back of the net only once in the third by way of a Patrice Bergeron power play goal.
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Following the game, head coach Claude Julien did not mince words about the outcome. “We all know this isn’t good enough. We all know we need to be better…there’s no excuse for tonight”. He also said “I can’t hold players by the collar on the bench. I don’t have enough hands.” The Bruins have certainly shown that they have the pieces required to win games, from Rask, to the offense, to the young defense showing signs of every day NHL ability, but the team simply hasn’t done enough as a whole to come away with anything other than a loss on most nights. “There’s reason to be excited about the potential…there’s potential here…if everybody takes charge of their own job every night”
Perhaps each Bruin player needs to learn a lesson from the 9-0 New England Patriots and simply tell themselves to “Do Your Job”.
Follow Brandon Share-Cohen on Twitter @BShareCohen to discuss all things Bruins and sports