Boston Bruins: Pushing Through To The Playoffs
The Boston Bruins are in for a very rough weekend. They’ve got back to back games against the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings. Not only did both teams beat the Bruins the last time they faced each other, they are the top two teams in the Pacific Division. The B’s will need to buckle down and play some of their best hockey of the regular season if they want to have a solid position at the start of the playoffs.
More from Bruins News
- Bruins release Prospects Challenge roster, schedule Tuesday
- Bruins bringing back familiar forward on tryout contract
- The Bruins should take a look at these four free agents
- NHL Network lists Ullmark as sixth-best goalie in the league
- The Lasting Legacy of David Krejci
You’d like to think you’re team is capable of rising to occasions and playing well and playing hard,” offered Claude Julien of the Bruins. “I thought we played decently against San Jose, but still not good enough to win and we could have been better.”
“So I think we can definitely expect more from our hockey club, in order to win these kind of games that we think are important for us.”
At this point, ALL the Bruins games are important to them. With just eleven games to go, the Bruins are in second in the Atlantic Division with 86 points. They’re three points behind the surging Florida Panthers who seem to have found their second wind in this last week. They only have a one point lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning (who are facing off against the Dallas Stars). If the Bruins can play their game, then there shouldn’t be much to worry about. If they don’t, it’s going to be a rough couple of days in California.
“It’s that time of year,” said Matt Beleskey of the Bruins upcoming games. This will be his first game back in Anaheim after seven years with the Ducks organization. “It’s an exciting time where we’re trying to get our game where it needs to be for this part of the season and heading into the playoffs. [Friday’s] going to be a big step.”
We’re going to have to get some points out of this road trip and these are two big games. Teams that came into our building and kind of gave us a bit of a beating, so we need to be ready for this weekend and four points would be huge.”
The Bruins have played some solid hockey in the last few weeks, and they need to continue with that forward momentum. The Bruins 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks marked the first regulation loss for the Bruins since the trade deadline. The Bruins know only a full sixty minute effort will get them the win tonight against Anaheim.
“We talked about before the road trip,” said Bruins captain Zdeno Chara of their loss to San Jose. “That these games were going to be challenging, so the first one, we played a pretty good game, but playing good is probably not good enough at this time of the year.
“So [Friday] night’s going to be a big test for us. We’ve got to be more paying attention to the details, playing harder and getting a little bit more out of our comfort zone.”