Prior to last night's opening game I tried to write about the Bruins. As a matter of fact, I sat down at my computer three separate times this week trying to write about the team. Each time I got about a sentence in and then was just at a loss of words. What is this years team going to be like? Will not having Milan Lucic on the team be a good thing? Are we going to be better than we were last year? Will we make the playoffs? Will we be buyers or sellers at the deadline? How will the young guys fit in? Will Claude Julien be around for the the winter holidays?
Like most fans, I hope last night's game was not an indication of what's to come for the Bruins. After having a nice first period, the team was miserable to watch the rest of the way through. I'll admit, I switched over to the football game for good midway through the third period. What I saw last night was a team with NO energy. Watching them, I actually kind of hoped that I would hear that the entire team has come down with something. I mean, that's what it looked like to me. Watching their play took me back many moons ago when I was playing high school ball. After throwing up an airball on a free throw attempt, my coach joked about how many fingers he was holding up. The next day I got tested for mono and was out for two weeks. My brain and my body were two steps behind. In my opinion, that's what the Bruins looked like last night.
In addition to looking slow when the puck was in their end, they seemed really flat footed whenever the puck was near the blue line. The blue line struggles appeared on both sides of the ice. On offense they never seemed to be able to get a stick on a puck which was ever so slowly about to be cleared. As a matter of fact, it seemed that they didn't have much interest in keeping it in the zone. I don't know if it was a case of guys not wanting to pinch in too much and then get burned, but it seemed like there was too much thinking going on. I mean either lean forward an inch and play the puck or get back on defense, don't just stand there.
In addition to looking slow when the puck was in their end, they seemed really flat footed whenever the puck was near the blue line. The blue line struggles appeared on both sides of the ice. On offense they never seemed to be able to get a stick on a puck which was ever so slowly about to be cleared. As a matter of fact, it seemed that they didn't have much interest in keeping it in the zone. I don't know if it was a case of guys not wanting to pinch in too much and then get burned, but it seemed like there was too much thinking going on. I mean either lean forward an inch and play the puck or get back on defense, don't just stand there.
Defensively, the team seemed like they would much rather give up a goal than get called for icing. When your teammates are hung out to dry and there's total chaos in front of the net, clear the damn puck and regroup.
Hopefully, last night was just a bad night and things improve quickly.
Hopefully, last night was just a bad night and things improve quickly.
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