Boston Bruins Are Learning To Play Well At Home As Of Late
This season the Boston Bruins have had plenty of success on the road with a 23-7-3 record, the problem as of recently was the teams play at home in T.D Garden with a home record at an abysmal 16-16-5 record.
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Before Saturdays 3-1 win over the New York Islanders the Bruins had a sub .500 record at home, now they sit at a .500 record at home for the first time since December 29th.
"“Well, it’s obviously encouraging,” head coach Claude Julien said. “But more importantly, I think where we were at one point and where we are now means that we have been better than worse at home, and we are hoping to establish that going forward here. You would hate to be getting yourselves into a playoff spot and then all of a sudden (be) worried about your home games. So, we need to get better here.” – Claude Julien"
Coach Claude Julian clearly understands the need to play well at home given that the Bruins are on pace to clinch home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs even though they play better on the road this season. Despite the stats Bruins players still would rather play on home ice instead of playing on the road in the playoffs according to winger Loui Eriksson.
"“Yeah, it’s always an advantage when you can play in front of your fans at home,” forward Loui Eriksson said. “Obviously, we haven’t been the best at home this season, but we can still improve on that. We definitely want to be playing for that spot, and hopefully we can get it.” – Claude Julien"
Loui is right, home ice in the playoffs is key to the success of teams that want to win Lord Stanley’s Cup. Fans on the road during the playoffs are not comparable to a regular season crowd, the Bruin’s may play better on the road now but come playoffs the way to win is on home ice.
Next: Boston Bruins only two points behind the BlackHawks
With only four of the remaining twelve games being played at the Boston Garden the Bruins will not have to many more opportunities to improve their record at home. What they can improve is their comfortably at home and play a solid 60 minutes in all four games at home to let opponents know that this Bruins team will defend their house.