Boston Bruins: Struggles Highlighted By Disturbing Trends

With the Boston Bruins’ goaltending situation receiving all of the headlines (and perhaps rightfully so), disturbing trends are front and center on a nightly basis for Boston on their young season

Boston Bruins fans were treated to another disappointing loss at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night, just 24 hours after their royal whooping at home versus the Minnesota Wild. Though the team conceded five goals for the second night in a row, Zane Macintyre actually played quite well, considering the circumstances. Once again, Boston’s defense struggled mightily. Be it in the form of blown coverage, a bad turnover, or ineptitude in transition, the unit did little to bail out a rookie making his first career start.

The team conceded six power plays to the Rangers, allowing them to claw their way back into a contest Boston controlled for the first 30 minutes. As the penalties piled up, it prevented them from mounting any kind of comeback. Aside from the noteworthy absences (Rask, Khodobin, Backes), there are multiple disturbing trends developing for the Black and Gold. All of which suggest that Jeremy Jacobs’ expectation of a “long playoff run” is either corporate bluster or the ramblings of an old man.

Look, the season is just seven games old…I understand that. Some key players are out hurt. And with this many new faces as well as numerous first or second-year pros, it’s going to take a while for this team to gel…I understand that too. I’m not jumping on the doubt-wagon because Boston lost three games in a row, or because Boston’s goaltending situation became dire overnight. It has nothing to do with wins and losses, or injuries, because frankly, I don’t feel that much worse about this team at 3-4 than I did at 3-1.

When I watch this team play, I just don’t see a team that is very good at any particular facet of the game. I’ve seen individual players rise to the occasion and steal a game or two. With players like Bergeron, Marchand, Pasta, Rask, and Backes in tow, that’s a trend that’s likely to continue. But with this season’s small sample size being exclusively against teams that missed the playoffs or made a first-round exit last season, it’s difficult for me, at this juncture, to see things turning around anytime soon versus stiffer competition.

Leading up to Saturday night’s tilt versus the “Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge,” Boston had something to feel good about. They were fresh off of another come-from-behind victory versus New Jersey in Patrice Bergeron’s season debut, where despite being blanked for the first 50 minutes, they found a way to beat Cory Schneider twice in the final ten minutes to steal the victory. Once again it was Brad Marchand making big plays at the right time. First, he tied the game with an unbelievable wrist shot. And then his work down low and deft pass set up Bergeron for the winner. The Bruins rolled into the TD Garden Saturday night for their first crack at the Montreal Canadiens, with a golden opportunity to really put a stamp on the early portion of the season and say, “This is who we are.”

They did just that.

Must Read: Bruins Woes vs Habs Continue

The Bruins need to stop losing at home to Montreal. Now, that’s about as obvious a statement as, “Hey, someone should put out that grease fire,” but it needs to be said anyway. With a fanbase really struggling in recent years to get behind the organization, everyone associated with the Boston Bruins knows they need to play better at home. Losing at home to Montreal is the consummate gut-punch for Bruins fans, and conceding NINE in a row at home to their hated rivals is, frankly, inexcusable.

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

I have zero respect for the growing contingent of Bruins fans who seemingly hate-watch this team. They salivate at every opportunity to bash Sweeney, Julien, Chara, Rask…whomever. However, it’s not as though their dissatisfaction arose from thin air. This team is going to lose games. Frankly, this team has shown throughout the decades that more often than not it will lose to Montreal. But the listless play and long stretches of ineptitude versus their biggest rivals is something that needs to end yesterday.

Versus the Rangers, David Pastrnak scored just ten seconds into the contest, snapping the team’s six-game streak of conceding the first goal. It was the perfect start to the game, and a small step in the right direction. The team’s inability to score more than once in the subsequent 59:50 (and not at all over the final 45 minutes), however, continued Boston’s scoring woes. Scoring just six goals over the past four games, and four in the past three aren’t doing much to alleviate the pressure created by Boston’s less-than-ideal goaltending situation.

As things currently stand, this Bruins roster is not built to play from behind. This is a fact made most evident by the makeup of the team’s Bottom Six forwards. Though the fourth line has been Boston’s most consistent beyond its top line, a Bottom Six comprised of Dominic Moore, Riley Nash, Matt Beleskey, Noel Acciari, Tim Schaller and the like is built to protect a lead, not to overcome a deficit. Though Boston was unable to protect its two-goal lead Wednesday, getting on the board first was one small hurdle the team was able to finally clear.

If you noticed Jimmy Hayes’ exclusion from the aforementioned list, know it wasn’t a mistake. Frankly, there isn’t a situation in which Hayes belongs on the ice at this point. With zero points and a minus-7 through seven contests….what positives can be taken from his game? He isn’t even an effective penalty killer or defensive presence.

He’s now scoreless in his last 23 contests. If Claude Julien meant what he said with, ” Our best players will play,” then this Bruins team is in even worse shape than we all thought. Hayes continues to dress, game after game, despite being a complete non-factor on a nightly basis. With all of the attention the Seguin trade received, the Reilly Smith-Jimmy Hayes swap, to me, looks even worse. End of tangent.

Puck possession has been a serious problem to this point, and it starts at the face-off dot. Though Boston was markedly better in this area against the Rangers (58 % win rate), their season long win percentage still sits below 50%. The Bruins posted a season-low 39% win rate versus Toronto (of all teams). Before that is carelessly ascribed to the absence of Patrice Bergeron, note that Boston lost 57% of its draws to Montreal with Bergie in the lineup. Bergeron himself uncharacteristically lost 55% of his draws in the contest. The most notable example of this was in the third period when Bergeron was bested in the offensive zone while on the power play. Montreal’s clearance led to Paul Byron’s shorthanded breakaway goal, reinstating Montreal’s two-goal lead.

Prior to his recall in the wake of David Backes’ injury, Austin Czarnik won just 11% of his face-offs through the season’s first two games. This put a serious dent in the team’s plans to utilize the young playmaker as the team’s third-line center. He slotted in on David Krejci’s wing Wednesday night, generated several strong scoring opportunities, and scored his first career NHL goal in the process. He should absolutely continue to see looks at wing following Backes’ return.

Video:: Czarnik's First NHL Goal

A team can seldom win games while losing the possession battle, and the best way to establish possession is to win the battle on the dot. Once a team does have possession, it can’t afford to be as inept and careless as Boston’s blue line has been to this point.

If there were a main crux of this article or a facet of Boston’s game that has bothered me the most, it has been its inability to effectively break pucks out of the defensive zone while maintaining possession. How many times this season have we seen Rask or Khudobin make a save, or a Bruins defenseman win a battle down low, only to watch the attempted breakout pass be intercepted? Or hit a skate and fail to clear the zone? More often than not it fails to hit a forward in stride, or careens the length of the rink for icing. This typically leads to another lost face-off in the defensive zone.

It continued Wednesday night. The unit failed again to regularly transition the puck through the neutral zone. One exchange, in particular, highlighted the unit’s struggles: Less than three minutes into the third period, with Boston down one goal, JM Liles, and Colin Miller had an ugly exchange behind Boston’s net. A bad pass from Liles caromed off of Colin Miller’s skate and was picked up by JT Miller. Miller fed Marc Staal at the high slot, and Brandon Pirri had roughly 43 seconds at the far post to collect the bouncing puck and pot the rebound. Ugly. Just plain ugly.

Some point to Boston’s failures in transition as an “X’s and O’s” issue. I’ve yet to see a lack of originality or in-game adjustments made by the Boston coaching staff. To me, this is merely an issue of Boston not having the personnel necessary at the position to compete nightly. If a team cannot effectively and regularly transition the puck from the defensive zone up through the neutral zone (via outlet pass or strong rushes from the defense) it’s hard to point a finger at the forwards and say, “You’re not generating enough scoring opportunities.” There has been little to zero flow in Boston’s attack dating back to the Toronto game, and it all starts with ineptitude in transition.

It’s been the team’s most glaring weakness dating back to the beginning of last season. Yet Boston’s front office refuses to pay the requisite price to obtain Cam Fowler, a premier puck-moving defenseman. To struggle so mightily in an area while a player who specializes in that area remains on the trade block for months on end is beyond baffling.

This is nothing like the Trouba situation, which would cost Boston premier young roster talent, prospects, and picks. As cap-strapped as Anaheim currently is, they cannot afford much (if any) roster talent in return. Though Fowler might not be the “Top Pairing,” all-around talent Boston needs…show me one who’s available and attainable. Suggesting Fowler’s services for at least two years at this juncture are not worth a first round pick, B-level prospect, and Ryan Spooner means you should probably stick to football.

Fowler’s three goals and seven points through eight games lead all Anaheim defenseman. They rank third and second respectively throughout the entire Ducks roster. This means his value has only gone up since this past offseason.

Refusing to be decisive and acquire Fowler because “We don’t want to continue to sprinkle our talent throughout the league,” is no better than making a bad trade. Boston is not a team in full rebuild who should be refraining from adding NHL talent via trade. Being fleeced in recent trades doesn’t mean you stop making necessary moves entirely. Bergeron, Marchand, Rask, Backes, and Krejci are all in various phases of their “prime,” with the latter two on the back end of it. A refusal to add to this team now because of an “eye toward the future” does little to no good. It sends a message to the “core” players that the organization has no designs of winning now. But thanks for re-signing with us….

What will Krejci’s game look like in two or three years? Or Backes’? There is a great need on the team’s back end, and a player who fills that need on the trade block. Nine first or second round picks the past two seasons have provided Boston with the luxury of prospect depth, allowing them to make moves to help the club NOW. So do it already, before we stop paying $125 per ticket and you lose your jobs after another disappointing season.

I don’t intend on turning this into yet another “Cam Fowler” article. I can’t avoid mentioning another team weakness that would be bolstered with his addition ith Boston’s power play once again looking anemic. The unit has capitalized just twice on 24 opportunities on the young season. The most recent tally coming only after conceding a shorthanded goal earlier. Fowler himself has two goals and five points with the man advantage this season. The Bruins have scored just six goals in their last four games. With the current goaltending situation as worrisome as it is, these failures to capitalize on the power play are absolutely burying this team.

To a man, the unit has struggled. No one’s struggles with the man advantage are more glaring than Torey Krug’s, though. Fresh off of a four-year extension that pays him over $5 million per season, Torey Krug is on the roster to generate offense. Be it off the rush at five-on-five or from the point on the power play, that’s his job.

Despite seeing more time on the power play than any other Bruins defenseman (and 95% of all Bruins players) Krug has zero points through seven games. The kid who scored 26 goals in his first two seasons has just four goals in his last 88 games.

Through seven games, Boston has been shorthanded 30 times. They’ve also gone down a man 15 times in the past three games. Some have been dumb penalties, and some have been the result of playing out of position. Regardless of why or how, this is another trend that is absolutely burying the Bruins. The team is consistently struggling to generate offense. That’s a trend that will continue if Boston continues to take minor penalties with such alarming frequency. Whether or not the team is conceding goals while on the penalty kill, minor penalties are momentum killers; you can’t win games from the penalty box.

As for coverage in the defensive zone….cover your eyes. Most recently versus the Rangers, Torey Krug was out of position on the penalty kill during New York’s first goal. Zane Mcintyre made a beautiful save on Rick Nash’s initial bid, and was left prone and helpless to stop Nash’s rebound attempt. Less than one minute after conceding the fourth goal of the contest (which featured more blown coverage for JM Liles following his turnover), the Nash-Stepan-Vesey line moved through the Chara-Carlo pairing as though they were merely apparitions, with Vesey potting New York’s fifth goal, putting the final nail in Boston’s coffin.

Finally, we turn toward Boston’s goaltending which…..I mean, what can I say? Losing both Rask and Khudobin simultaneously is just plain unfortunate. The organization can’t be held accountable for bad luck. Rask’s status as “day-to-day,” is certainly comforting, but the loss of Khudobin for three weeks means a heavy workload for Rask immediately upon his return….a less than ideal situation.

Zane Mcintyre actually played well Wednesday for Boston, especially through the first 30 minutes of the affair. He made two big saves on separate partial breakaways for JT Miller. There was the aforementioned gorgeous save on Nash’s redirection from the top of the crease. Another strong save was made on Jimmy Vesey’s bid from the bottom of the circle less than a minute later. All the while, he simply waltzed past Zdeno Chara.

Multiple additional saves were made through traffic while Boston was playing shorthanded. Aside from Kevin Hayes’ goal from behind the net (in which Mcintyre was playing a tad too far off the near-side post), he didn’t concede a bad goal all night…he just received virtually zero help from his teammates in front of him.

Rest In Peace, Malcolm Subban.

It would not be the least bit surprising to me if Wednesday night was the last time we saw Malcolm Subban in a Boston Bruins uniform. Yes, he’s just 22 years old. He has loads of “raw talent.” So did Ryan Leaf.

I can’t imagine a shred of confidence existing within Malcolm Subban at this point. After one-and-a-half seasons of inconsistency at the AHL level, Malcolm had finally started to right the ship in Providence when a puck crushed his larynx, ending his season. Coming back this season, he was dreadful at the AHL level. Subban was pulled in back-to-back games for the Baby B’s prior to being called up.  A series of events that must be a first in professional hockey. Subban has appeared in two NHL games in his young career. He’s also gotten the hook after giving up giving up three second-period goals in both contests.

The Bruins have nothing to lose by holding onto Malcolm and keeping him at the AHL level. Perhaps they could at least salvage some value as a trade chip. But “goaltender of the future” he is not.

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

Should Pittsburgh waive Boston native Mike Condon now that Matt Murray is healthy I would welcome the addition. Ondrej Pavelec of Winnipeg could be an option, provided the Jets retain the maximum 50% of his contract. Perhaps in return for a late-round pick.

I am a very passionate guy when it comes to hockey, particularly Boston Bruins hockey. As a former player myself, I frequently carry that emotion into my viewings of Bruins games. I’ve run around the house screaming. I punched a hole in my bathroom door following the 2014 playoff dismissal at the hands of Montreal. I’ve thrown hats, the remote control, bags of Swedish Fish…you name it. And yet I watched Tuesday and Wednesday night’s games with the quiet, academic composure of a scientist mid-experiment.

The end result of each contest was not terribly surprising. However, the process and myriad of ways this team continues to struggle nightly have induced a numbing sensation reminiscent of my last trip to the dentist. Injuries aside, I’ve yet to see much out of this team to instill much hope moving forward.

Next: Condon A Worthwhile Target For Bruins?

In my heart of hearts, I don’t believe a coaching change would do anything to fix or kickstart this team. Boston continuing to struggle the way they have been, could all assure us an opportunity to test that hypothesis.