Boston Bruins: The Ups And Downs Of The Blueline
The Boston Bruins are now without two of their top four defenseman. For the remainder of their blueliners, there are going to be some ups and downs as the B’s try to stabilize their weakest area.
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The Boston Bruins went into Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers with a significantly reduced defensive core. Zdeno Chara still listed as day-to-day. John-Michael Liles out with a concussion. The Bruins needed their remaining defenseman to stand tall.
All in all, it was a mixed bag for the Bruins blueliners. The two Philadelphia goals came from defensive breakdowns. It certainly didn’t help that Adam McQuaid screened Tuukka Rask on one of those goals as well. Still, the Bruins were able to salvage a point out of the situation (losing in a nine round shootout 3-2) and stay competitive for a wild card position.
“We need everybody to step in there. You can’t just rely on forwards to score, and just rely on D’s to defend,” said Claude Julien of the teams performance in general. “It’s got to be a five man unit with the D and the forwards working together. We’ve got some guys that can go in there and make some plays for us in the O-zone that are playing on the back end. So it’s important for us to get a little bit more of that because our back end is capable of doing a little bit more [on offense]. Hopefully that gets better.”
The Bruins were able to get that point thanks to the efforts of Bruins defenseman Torey Krug. While Krug’s mishandling of the puck did lead to a Flyers goal, he redeemed himself by being a key piece to both Bruins goals later in the game.
“I definitely made some plays, but that first goal [allowed] I can’t be making that play through the middle,” said Krug of his overall performance against the Flyers. “Unfortunately it turned out that it ended up in the net. I take a lot of pride talking care of the puck, and that wasn’t the best play. We were getting pushed out of the way early in the game, but we stuck with it and go in there for those second and third chances in the third [period]. I thought that made a difference.”
Torey Krug played like he was the Bruins number one defenseman on Tuesday night. He played nearly twenty-six minutes (25:53) of ice time, and played some of his best hockey in the final twenty minutes of regulation. While he was on the ice he registered assists on each of Boston’s goals in the third period. He ended up finishing with a +1 rating and had put in six shots on goal
Even though the Bruins lost, his teammates were very happy with how he played.
“That’s when he’s at his best, jumping on those loose pucks and making some plays,” said David Krejci. “He was really involved in both goals, so it was good to see him up there moving his feet, creating chances and making things happen.”