Boston Bruins Back From Bye Week
The Boston Bruins are back in action after their bye week. They’re still in the playoff hunt and are eager to climb the standings in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division.
The Boston Bruins will be back on the ice on Sunday night. They’ll be taking on the San Jose Sharks out on the west coast. The team was hoping that they’d still be in a strong position after being forced (by the current CBA) to go through their bye week.
The Bruins got lucky. With so many teams in close proximity, the Bruins could have found themselves out of the third spot in the Atlantic or out of playoff position all together. Thankfully, the Toronto Maple Leafs had a rough week of it and couldn’t find a way to pass the Black and Gold.
Still, the Bruins will have their work cut out for them. The Ottawa Senators are just two points behind the division leaders, the Montreal Canadiens. The Bruins aren’t that far out of contention. They are down four points against Ottawa and six against the struggling Habs (who lost to the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 in Claude Julien‘s [return] coaching debut with the Canadiens).
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The Bruins also have several teams that are too close for comfort. Toronto is just one point behind Boston. The Florida Panthers, New York Islanders, and the (here’s a surprise here folks) Buffalo Sabres are just two points behind the Black and Gold. The Bruins don’t have any other option but to hit the gas and not take their foot off the accelerator.
The Bruins were happy to get back together as they assembled in California. Some stayed around Boston, a few went to the Caribbean, and a few stayed closer to their homes. Once the team got assembled, the B’s quickly got back to work as they headed into an important road trip.
“The guys all got together – some of them met us out there, and they were hugging in the room, and you see it on the ice,” stated Bruins Head Coach Bruce Cassidy. “They’re hockey players, they want to play and then left in a good frame of mind when we broke up on Sunday night, so they want to get back at it, as well as I do, and see where we’re at.”
The Bruins understood how important that week off was to them. They also understand how rough the final few weeks will be for the Black and Gold.
“[Over the break], we had a chance to relax a little bit, enjoy ourselves, and spend more time with our families,” said B’s captain Zdeno Chara. “Everybody chose to spend in the way they wanted, and we came back, and it was a high tempo, high-paced, energy practice where we had a lot of drills that involved all five guys skating and handling the puck, and just reacting, and getting ready for [Sunday].”
A Bruins win will give the team a little more breathing room over the rest of the division. It will also help close the gap with Ottawa to just two points. They’ll be taking on the Sharks who will be playing the back-end of a double-header on Saturday night.
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Coach Cassidy is hoping for a strong showing from the team. Starting his coaching career with a four-game win streak would certainly be a good feather in this cap (especially if the organization wants to drop the ‘interim’ title from his name after the season.
“Generally, you’re going to be rusty, and it’s usually your hands, and puck management’s going to be key,” said Cassidy.
“You hope you’ll defend fine and you’ll have the energy to do that, but your hands might leave you a little bit and be a little rusty behind the play and you’ll make some mistakes with the puck, so we’ll guard against that – you guard against that every night, but it will be especially important coming back off the break.”