After last years regular season domination, no one thought the Bruins would fall so low that they'd be bumping elbows with the bottom dwellers. Alas, the time has come. The B's stand 10th in the Eastern conference with 54 points, the same number as the Islanders....ouch. Who or what is to blame due to the recent 1-7-1 slide? On offense they have struggled to convert power plays. In the past 7 games they did not score a single power play goal and currently are last in the NHL in goals scored. Blame the injuries maybe? No Marco Sturm, Steve Begin and most damaging Marc Savard. Not according to NESN's reporter Kathryn Tappert:
The injuries? It’s part of the game. The Bruins, believe it or not, are among the league’s best for man games lost. Heading into Sunday’s game against Carolina, Boston was ranked 24th among the 30 NHL teams. Translation: 23 other teams in the league have more bumps and bruises and players missing due to injuries than the Boston Bruins. No excuses.
Tim Thomas is doing all he can, although is having a sub-par season in comparison to last year. He ranks 16th of all goalies in the NHL with saves. While back up goalie Tukka Rask has a save percentage of .925. Pretty good, but sees a significant less amount of ice time.
Numbers only go so far, if the team morale is down in the dumps they wont play well. Tim Thomas said this after Saturday's loss to Ottawa:
Maybe ‘frustrated’ is not the right word. It’s part of it. You know, I’m disappointed. I think as an overall effort from the team, we gave a real good effort. We’re just not getting the results that we need to.
What's eating this promising team full of potential? Whatever it may be, hopefully it will be shaken off soon and they bounce back into playoff contention.
No comments:
Post a Comment