It's no secret that the month of November is a home-heavy one for the Boston Bruins, with nine of their 11 games to be played inside the TD Garden. It is a chance for the Black and Gold to bank some points early in the season in the standings.
After winning their first two games, Boston has dropped their last two in regulation to the Montreal Canadiens and the Minnesota Wild. Quite frankly, neither game has been close. Two blowout losses to a pair of elite teams is not something Marco Sturm had hoped would happen with his club. He hoped that they would have been a little more competitive. They weren't. After Saturday night's 6-2 loss to the Wild, Sturm said that a lot of Bruins fans are quickly finding out about their team despite the start to the season they have had.
“They’re a Cup contender,'' said Sturm, per Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports. "We want to be one of them. We’re just not there yet.”
Marco Sturm doesn't mince words about his club after second straight loss
Well, if we're being honest, he's not surprising many, if anybody, about this team not being there yet. They are very far away from being there yet. Consider the following: they have two losses to the Wild and one each to the Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes, three legit contenders this season. They also have losses to the Ottawa Senators and St. Louis Blues, but they're not in the same breath as the other teams.
So what does this mean? Not a lot halfway through November, but it does highlight how far away they are from the contenders and the top teams in the league. To be fair, they do have a shootout win over the Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers.
Next up is the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night at home, followed by a game against the Detroit Red Wings the following night in the Motor City. Then it's back to Boston for the rest of the month and a chance to bank some points before the schedule ends up evening out by the end of the season. You play a lot of home games in a grid; you have to make up those games before the season ends so everything evens out. There are multiple areas that need to improve; the Sturm is right, the Bruins are there yet.
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