It has been said before and should be said again: First-year Boston Bruins coach Marco Sturm has pushed just about all the right buttons this year. When the season started, who had the Black and Gold holding down an Eastern Conference playoff berth at the Olympic break?
I bet not many outside of the locker room. Here we are, after a 5-4 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night, the Bruins are in possession of the final wild-card spot. Where they finish the rest of the season remains to be seen after the break.
However, they are going to make things difficult for themselves when it comes to points. The Columbus Blue Jackets are hot on their heels, as are other teams. The four-point cushion doesn't feel safe. If they do end up missing the postseason by a point or two, some questionable Sturm decisions might be the reason why.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm continues to make questionable shootout decisions
One area where Sturm's decisions are questioned is with his choice of shooters for shootouts. Seriously, what is he doing sometimes? That was evident on Wednesday night. With an opportunity to bury the Panthers in the standings, Sturm decided to roll out Viktor Arvidsson, Marat Khusnutdinov, Charlie McAvoy, and Casey Mittlestadt. It went four rounds with Arvidsson scoring when his shot hit Sergei Bobrovsky, hit the post, hit Bobrovsky again, and ended up in the back of the net.
After that, Khusnutdinov missed, McAvoy had the puck poked away by Bobrovsky, and Mittlestadt's feeble attempt was stopped. Where was David Pastrnak or Morgan Geekie instead of McAvoy with a chance to win it with the third shot? According to Sturm,
"I haven't seen him score yet,'' said Stum about Pastrnak. "I haven't seen any of our top guys score yet."
Ok, fair enough, but McAvoy? Seriously? If he's going with that theory, where was Mikey Eyssimont? I mean, he scored two first-period goals on Bobrovsky on breakaways? Where was he? Was Sturm trying to have McAvoy win the game after the cheap hit he took in the first period? Who knows, but sending MCAvoy out there when each point is precious is something we may look back at one day in what could be a long offseason, should the Black and Gold miss the postseason by a few points.