After a hard fought victory on opening night, the B's lost three in a row for the first time since April 2013. Shutout and embarrassed by the Capitals and stunned by the Avs with Dani Briere scoring with 0.4 seconds left. Heading into their first road trip of the season Bruins signed Simon Gagne and beat both Red Wings and Sabres. Their only loss on the trip came in a nailbiting 6-4 back-to-back game in Montréal.
A 3rd period comeback against the Sharks brought the B's their first "winning streak" of the early season, that one beeing ended by Chad Johnson and the New York Islanders. Withouth their Captain, the team played arguably their best game of the season in Toronto, earning a 4-1 road victory.
On their way to beat the Wild, Boston dropped three 3rd period goals going on to lose the game 4-3. Once again a victory in Buffalo had to bolster their confidence as Brad Marchand scored twice, including the game winner in Overtime.
The Bruins sit in 5th place in the Atlantic Division, holding the 2nd Wild Card spot with more games played than any team in the Eastern Conference.
A tough schedule was one of the main contributions to Bruins non success in October. The team had to play 7 games in 11 days (3-4), including two back-to-back games, one with travel. B's lost both 2nd night games of their back-to-backs against Detroit and Montréal. Last season they played only 4 games in the same time-span (3-1), 2011-12 season 5 games (2-3).
The 6-6 record in the month of October isn't as bad as the Cup hangover one (3-7) in 2011 but just like that season, Bruins will need a good November to get back on track.
The team went on a 10 game winning streak in 2011, ending the month with a 12-0-1 record. Last season they had a similar good November record with 10-3-2.
Since losing a top 4 defenseman in Johnny Boychuk just 4 days before opening night, Bruins struggled to find working D-pairings. They tried 3 different guys on Boychuks spot alongside Dennis Seidenberg, who is still trying to find his form prior to the season-ending knee injury last December.
It looked as if they found the right guy in Adam McQuaid, but that only lasted for opening-night. They turned to Matt Bartkowski for the Colorado game, however he continued to disprove last seasons good form. Torey Krug was the 3rd guy given the chance on the top 4 after Miller got injured, that pairing only lasted 2 games in which he scored a goal and 2 assists (vs SJS).
Ever since Torey Krug got injured against the Wild, the Bruis defense corps is a mess. Coach Claude Julien is now trying to find working pieces and hopes for Seidenberg and Hamilton to step up in absence of corner stone captain Zdeno Chara and PP threat Torey Krug.
They'll also likely continue with Warsofsky - Trotman, a pairing which already played together on the P-Bruins 1st line. Trotman, last pick overall in the 2010 draft, has looked solid in his three games this seasos, getting his 1st NHL point against Minnesota. The 24 year old is in his 3rd season with Providence and has gained attention since beeing lined up alongside Zdeno Chara in last years training camp.
David Warsofsky played arguably the best season of his career when he finished as P-Bruins top D scorer last season (32 points, 6 goals, 26 assists in 56 games / 9 points in 12 PO-games). On his first stint with the big club last year Warsofsky scored a great goal against the Senators. Due to his size and scoring ability media has drawn comparision to Torey Krug.
Joe Morrow, a former first round pick by the Penguins in 2011, made his NHL debut against the Sabres. He played alongside Adam McQuaid on the 3rd line and finished with team-high 4 blocks, besides a -1 rating. Just like the other 2 guys from Providence, Morrow will try to stay with the big club as long as possible.
Matt Bartkowski is the Bruins odd man out right now. The Pittsburgh native was a healthy scratch for the first part of the season before Miller got injured. After a succesfull first season with Boston (18 points in 64 games with a +22 rating) Bartkowski struggled in the playoffs and made some bad plays in the Montréal series. Since then, Bart has lost any confidence in his play beeing criticised heavily by both fans and coaching team. He has a -4 rating in just 5 games he played so far.
Injury Timeline:
18th Oct: Kevan Miller, fought Sabres Nicolas Deslauriers, fell on the ice and dislocated his right shoulder. He hasn't skated since and is ruled out indefenitely. Matt Bartkowski took his spot on the 3rd line alongside Torey Krug.
23rd Oct: Zdeno Chara, landed a heavy hit on John Tavares in which he injured the posterior cruciate ligament of his left knee. He's ruled out 4 to 6 weeks and will miss at least 11 games in November. B's called up Zach Trotman and Joe Morrow for the trip to Toronto, Trotman played on the 3rd line alongside Bartkowski. Seidenberg to the 1st line with Hamilton, Krug to the 2nd line with McQuaid.
28th Oct: Torey Krug, broke his finger on a shot attempt when Wilds Zach Parise slashed his glove, He's supposed to be out 2-3 weeks, will miss at least 6 games in November. Management called up Joe Morrow (was sent down after sitting against Toronto) and David Warsofsky. Morrow played on the 3rd alongside Adam McQuaid, Warsofsky joined P-Bruins linemate Trotman on the 2nd line.
He is one of the few winners in October, Seth Griffith has made his way from Providence onto the first line in Boston. After a great pre-season with Boston, Bruins management decided to give him a chance over struggling Matt Fraser when the B's started 1-2. It took him only 4 games alongside Milan Lucic and David Krejci to score his first NHL goal (vs SJS). The undersized right wing has 5 points in 8 games, which is more than Reilly Smith. Former Memorial Cup champion Griffith put up big numbers in Juniors, yet was only drafted in the 5th round of the 2012 draft because of his lack of defensive play.
Another forward who made his NHL debut was Craig Cunningham, he took advantage of the absence of both Campbell and Krejci at the start of the season. Cunningham, a 4th round pick in 2012, centered the 4th line with Paille and Robins and stood out as one of the better players in the first 3 games of the season. Management sent him down to Providence, when David Krejci made his comeback to the lineup against the Avalanche.
"The Bobby Robins experiment" or Bruins cinderella story was over after just three games for the 33-year old rookie. A beer league play against the Capitals cost the B's the whole game and sent Robins back down to Providence.
Both Matt Fraser and Ryan Spooner couldn't carry their pre-season success or hype into the NHL.
It looked like management was willing to try Spooner on the wing but the injury to Krejci crashed that plans before the season started. Centering a line with slow starting Lucic and struggling Fraser, Spooner couldn't shine at any time and was sent down to Providence after 5 games.
Fraser not only lost his 1st line RW spot everyone thought he had earned in pre-season, he also lost his lineup spot after Bruins signed Simon Gagne. Since then he hasn't played a game and spent time as the 13th forward, the role Jordan Caron had last season. Caron only appeared in a single Bruins game this season before beeing sent down to Providence for the 1st time in more than a year.
The line that stood out the most so far was without the doubt the one centered by Carl Söderberg. Him and Loui Eriksson seem to find themselves wherever they are on the ice, adding to that Chris Kelly has one of the best season starts of his career. (2 goals, 7 poins in 12 games)
With Patrice Bergeron trying to find his regular form, Eriksson and especially Kelly have been the Bruins best defensive forwards so far. But not just that, all three of that line are in the Top 7 of B's scoring table.
Comeback of the year might been an award Simon Gagné is aiming for. The 34-year old made his NHL return after more than one and half years of absence, when he lined up against the Red Wings on Oct. 15th. He scored his first goal as a Bruin against the Canadiens after CJ promoted him to the first line. With Griffith stepping up, Gagné is stuck with 4th line duties alongside Paille and Campbell.
As for goalies, one can highlight that Niklas Svedberg (2-2, .940 SV%) had a good start to his NHL career, winning 2 out of 4 and earning his first shutout against Buffalo.
Vezina trophy winning Tuukka Rask (4-4, .899 SV%) is still trying to find last season form, behind a so far weak defense.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen