By: Mike Dunshee
Hockey Stats Analysis at www.mikedunshee.com
Saturday night the inconsistent Bruins showed their worst side in a 7-0 shellacking administered by the Rangers. It was one of those games the Bruins have had the tendency to play this year where you simply can’t place blame anywhere since everything went wrong. In his post-game interview Coach Dave Lewis stated that the game didn’t represent the Bruins. Sadly, the game did represent the Bruins of this season; sometimes terrible, sometimes very solid, always inconsistent. With the season rapidly running out, the Bruins find themselves fading further from the playoff race and face a daunting task in cracking the top eight in the conference.
The upcoming week the Bruins have a home and home with the rival Montreal Canadians Tuesday and Thursday. They then host the Rangers on Friday before traveling to Pittsburgh to face Sidney Crosby and Co. on Saturday. With every game critical at this juncture, the Bruins will either find themselves out of playoff of contention or right on the cusp of breaking the top eight by the end of the week.
Currently Boston sits 12th, with 73 points and 11 games remaining. The Rangers, after dominating Boston Saturday, hold the 8th spot with 79 points. The biggest problem for the Bruins is that the Islanders, Maple Leafs and Canadians are all sitting at 78 points. With so many teams to leapfrog over, Boston cannot afford to get less than 6 points over the next week and more realistically probably need to get all eight points.
In a role they know well, the Habs will have the chance to sink the Bruins ship in the home and home series. If Montreal shuts Boston off from any points in the two games, it will be all but the nail in the coffin for the black and gold. Boston can take solace in the fact that the Canadians have struggled of late but Bruins fans are all too familiar with the history between the clubs.
If the Bruins survive their long-time rival intact, the get another shot at the team that just handed them their most embarrassing loss of the season. They then visit Pittsburgh, where Sidney Crosby seems to set a new youth scoring record every week. Undoubtedly the Bruins face long odds of making any type of run, but if they are to do it, their best hockey is going to have to come this week.
