Bruins Struggles Continue

The Boston Bruins lost another tough game in the final two minutes of the third period, as Vaclav Prospal beat Manny Fernandez for the go ahead and eventual game winning goal. The worst part about this loss was that it was too the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are currently ranked 13th in the Eastern Conference.

Bruins Coach Claude Julien had other thoughts "I think if all the cards were aligned, I don't think they be in the bottom of the league. You just have to look at the guys that they have up front. There’s a lot of fire power there" said Julien reports http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=290222020.

The Lightening is a talented team and deserves credit for putting on a great show, but it was a game the Bruins should have won. Just like many of their other losses on this slump, the Bruins out shot and outplayed Tampa Bay for the duration of the game, and just couldn't hold defensively.

Ever since giving a game up late to Philadelphia back on February 7th, the Bruins seem to be in a rut they cannot climb out of. They have lost six of their last seven and have only been out shot in two of the six loses.
Who’s To Blame

It is very easy to point the finger at the Bruins offense considering they have been shut out twice during this slump; however the offense is not to blame. The Bruins have out shot four of the six opponents they have fallen to while dominating offensively, out shooting Philly 37-30, New Jersey 31-18, Florida 41-29, and Tampa 43-18. While only being out shot in loses to San Jose 31-30, and Nashville 25-31. Over those six loses the Bruins out shot their opponents 207-157 and had 10 goals to show for it over the 6 games.

This shows their offense has hit a bit of a cold streak, but over those same six games the defense has given up 19 goals. This averages over three goals a game given up by bad decisions and bad goal tending. The combination of All-star Tim Thomas and back up Manny Fernandez seems to struggling along with the rest of the defense.

This is a very bad sign for the future, because the Bruins are built on defense and toughness. The reason they took Montreal to game seven last year was because of defense, and the reason they are on the top of the Eastern Conference is directly related to their defensive play thus far. So as the Bruins defense stumbles the rest of the team will continue to fall.

For all the Bruins fans out there don’t sell your season tickets quite yet as long as Coach Claude Julien is at the helm the defense remains a very fixable problem.