The Boston Bruins only have one win in their last six games, yet remarkably are still sitting atop the Atlantic Division. How do you judge their form?
It’s fair to say, the Boston Bruins, right about now are somewhat of an enigma. They’re playing bad enough to lose five out of six games, but equally playing well enough that the last three of those losses were in shoot-outs (where they’re no good).
It would be very easy to be quite harsh about the team’s form if they continued to play as poorly as they did against the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings at the start of the recent slump.
However, the Boston Bruins have played with a ton of spirit since then, pushing the Philadelphia Flyers to the brink in over-time before being downed in a shoot-out. They also sealed a hard-fought, some might say somewhat lucky win, over the Maple Leafs in Toronto and most recently took the league leaders to a shoot-out despite being out-shot heavily.
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Perhaps the most fitting way to look at the Boston Bruins recent form is to compare it to the one game we haven’t mentioned in that recent run; the shoot-out loss to the Florida Panthers.
The first period of that game was relatively standard; nothing too crazy happening and it was fair to go in at the break with the scores tied 0-0.
However, the Boston Bruins decided in that intermission that they had a point to prove and came out raring to go, banging home four goals to end the second period leading by four.
This sums up recent Boston Bruins performances perfectly; they have their patches and moments where they look truly unstoppable. The passing is working, the shots are hitting the back of the net, the goaltending is on and everything is gelling.
But perhaps, it is just that proving to be the issue – the team isn’t gelling lately. There’s been far too many changes to the line-up, too much line-shuffling as a result of injuries and it’s resulting in a funk in the team’s form.
The third period versus Florida epitomises the recent form; the Boston Bruins show they have the calibre and ability to win games but cave. The full sixty-minute performances haven’t been there and it showed against the Panthers.
To allow four in the third period in the modern-day NHL is reprehensible, especially if you have a four-goal lead.
We can blame the Boston Bruins form on all manner of things, end of the day, we’re lucky that the rest of the Atlantic Division is stumbling and that we still remain top of the pile.
The next week will decide just how much of a contender we can be; with significant players returning from injury, we should expect an uptick in form. If it doesn’t come, maybe we should consider who might be available on the trade market?
We’re lucky in the spot we’re in, but we need to start relying, once more, on performances not luck.