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Bruins Keys to Rematch with Avalanche

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by: @inlow005

Following a rough home loss at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche Monday, the Boston Bruins take the ice in Denver tonight for a shot at redemption. The impressive offensive outing from opening night evaporated Monday afternoon.   Many things need to change on both sides of the ice before the rematch with Colorado.

KREJCI NEEDS A REBOUND

While watching Boston’s opener last week, nobody stood out more to me than David Krejci.  He assisted three of the team’s four goals and went positive in the point differential column.  The chemistry displayed between veteran Krejci and NHL rookie Jake DeBrusk left Bruins fans optimistic for their season on the ice together.  Monday night, however, that optimism turned to skepticism.  In the 4-0 loss to Colorado, Krejci was on the ice for two Avalanche goals.  Line-mates DeBrusk and Andres Bjork both went minus three in the plus/minus category.  Krejci and his line are going to have to get more shots on goal Wednesday night.  The fourth line left winger (Sean Kuraly) should never lead the team in shots on goal.

KRUG NEEDS TO MAKE A PRESENCE

I certainly did not expect a huge showing from Torey Krug in his first game of the season.   But with a game under his belt, Krug will need to make some noise Wednesday night.  Krug led the Bruins in ice time Monday afternoon playing alongside Adam McQuaid.  While McQuaid recorded four hits and an even plus/minus, Krug tallied one hit, a -1 plus/minus, and one shot on goal.  He also found the penalty box once on a two-minute illegal check to the head of Alexander Kerfoot.  If Krug can stay honest defensively and add some offensive value, the Bruin’s can definitely bounce back in their third game of the year.

THE SILLY GOALS NEED TO STOP… OR BE STOPPED

As a hockey fan, nothing is more frustrating than watching your team give up goals that can easily be prevented.  It is one thing to give up a goal when the defense did everything right and the shooter just placed it perfectly.  But when the majority of the goals against the Bruins are from careless mistakes, it gets really frustrating.  In the opener against Nashville, all three Predators’ goals came in the final two minutes of a period.  The entire Boston roster seemed to just give up when the clock was soon to expire.  Luckily the offensive efforts outweighed the defensive laziness, but that won’t be enough moving forward.

In the game Monday against Colorado, three of the goals could have been prevented with more caution from Boston.  Krejci was way out of place for the first goal.  The second goal for Colorado came short-handed after a lack of Boston positioning.  And the third goal could have been avoided if Rask didn’t lunge 30 feet out of the crease trying to collect the puck.  Boston needs to fix its positioning and awareness for Wednesday night, and the rest of the season.

Despite Semyon Varlamov’s impressive start to the year in goal for Colorado, the Avalanche are a very beatable team.  If the Bruins come out with more offensive chemistry and defensive awareness than they did Monday, the Bruins could very well chalk up their second win of the year tonight.

 

 

 

Bruins Zap Us Right Back into Reality

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Like everyone else, I was feeling confident about the Bruins after their opening night win against the Predators. Who am I kidding?   I had them in the Eastern Conference Finals. With five rookies in the opening night lineup, they took the play to the Western conference champions all night. Jake Debrusk scored an impressive goal for his first of what looks like many.  Anders Bjork was all over the ice, registering an assist and generating plenty of chances. Charlie McAvoy picked up right where he left off, and appears to be an early favorite for the Calder. The rookies put David Krejci in the DeLorean. Krejci looked young again–registering three assists and easily keeping up with his faster, younger linemates.

Then something happened while I was planning the Duck Boat parade:  The Bruins reminded us how frustrating they can be, and zapped us right back into reality. With three days off between games one and two, they looked like the “youth-movement Bruins” most expected to see. Mental mistakes and missed passes made the goaltender’s job easy, all adding up to an abysmal 4-0 defeat for the home team.  Even Tuukka Rask looked like a rookie today, badly playing a puck outside his net and easily beaten.

I realize the Bruins mysteriously struggled against the Avalanche at home, but there wasn’t much to take from today’s “effort.”  They looked as though they really enjoyed the long fall weekend – pumpkin beer, spiked cider, apple picking, the whole nine yards.  Once again they were without Patrice Bergeron, who after today’s game, can’t get back in the lineup soon enough. Great to see Torey Krug back on the ice after a long layoff.  But he looked rusty and will most likely need a couple of games to get up to speed.

There is still much to learn about the 2017-18 Boston Bruins. Class begins Wednesday night in Colorado. Did I overreact after Thursday night’s game? Maybe. But I reserve the right to dust off my parade plans if we see more what we saw Thursday night and less of what we saw Monday.