When the Vancouver Canucks came to Boston for their first match-up against the Boston Bruins since falling to the Black-and-Gold in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, there was no doubting the notion that the Canucks were a mere hunk of particleboard positioned towards an eight-spoked buzzsaw.
Boston entered that matinee affair a staggering 8-1-0 in their previous nine, outscoring their opponents a mercy-rule-inducing 44 to 8 over that run, and were sure to make short work of the Canucks' back-up goaltender. Yet, as Cory Schneider and the 'Nucks showed on the way to a 4-3 win that saw the Bruins pay for their bullying ways -- headlined by ejections to
Milan Lucic and
Brad Marchand -- there's a reason why they play the game, folks.
Revenge? Well, not really in the form fans from British Columbia would've preferred because Vancouver didn't leave Boston with a Cup, but there's been a noticeable edge missing from the Bruins' play since the 'rematch' drew to a close with the Canucks stealing two on Boston ice.
The emotion of the Bruins? The edge, and the downright nasty side of the Black-and-Gold? Missing in action since that fateful January afternoon, and by all means presumed dead. It's been 33 games since the Bruins' rugged style seemed neutered by the aforementioned Marchand ejection and subsequent five-game suspension handed down to No. 63, taking Boston out of their comfort zone as chief schoolyard bullies of the league. You read that right, 33 games of psychological mind-effing on behalf of the Bruins.
Over that stretch, they've mustered up just two winning streaks (both beginning and ending at two games), and they've been picked apart by just about every club out there as the dog days of the Bruins' back-loaded schedule have left the defending Cup champs puffing for air. Unfortunately for Boston, this isn't the schoolyard anymore, and there's no 'timeout' button for the Black-and-Gold to catch their breath.
In fact, words probably can't express just how defeated this Bruins club looks right now. It's a Boston team that's become so deflated when it comes to just showing up and putting a Bruin-like effort forth, and become something that without question stands out when looking at their performance over the last 33 contests.
Especially in comparison to rest of their Eastern Conference counterparts.
After some serious number-crunching late last-night and into this afternoon, here are the point-percentages of the entire Eastern Conference over their last 33 games played. This is (obviously) the accumulation of points -- be it two for a win or one for an overtime loss -- and scaled at 100 percent.
1. Pittsburgh Penguins (22 wins, 1 overtime loss/45 points): 68.18%
2. New Jersey Devils (20 wins, 3 overtime losses/43 points): 65.15%
3. New York Rangers (20 wins, 3 overtime losses/43 points): 65.15%
4. Philadelphia Flyers (19 wins, 3 overtime losses/41 points): 62.12%
5. Ottawa Senators (18 wins, 5 overtime losses/41 points): 62.12%
6. Carolina Hurricanes (15 wins, 9 overtime losses/39 points): 59.09%
7. Buffalo Sabres (16 wins, 5 overtime losses/37 points): 56.00%
8. Washington Capitals (16 wins, 4 overtime losses/36 points): 54.54%
9. Florida Panthers (15 wins, 6 overtime losses/36 points): 54.54%
10. Tampa Bay Lightning (15 wins, 4 overtime losses/34 points): 51.51%
11. Winnipeg Jets (15 wins, 3 overtime losses/33 points): 50%
12. New York Islanders (14 wins, 5 overtime losses/33 points): 50%
13. Montreal Canadiens (14 wins, 4 overtime losses/32 points): 48.48%
14. Boston Bruins (14 wins, 2 overtime losses/30 points): 45.45%
15. Toronto Maple Leafs (13 wins, 3 overtime losses/29 points): 43.93%
Rock bottom? Almost; One Toronto win away from it, in fact. Only the Bruins and Panthers (who were still nearly 10% better than Boston) are playoff clubs that find themselves out of the top-eight when it comes their point-percentage over the last 33, and it's a shocking to think that the Bruins are separated from a team that's dropped 15 of their last 17 by a single [expletive] point.
It borders on unfathomable, especially for a division leading club. But so what? They can't steal those three-point games, big deal, right? Well, that's until you look at the goal differential these teams have put up over that same stretch.
These figures (again -- obviously) do not include shootout goals, because that's dumb. Seriously, that's stupid.
1. Ottawa Senators (99 goals for, 76 goals against): +23
2. Pittsburgh Penguins (100 goals for, 81 goals against): +19
3. New Jersey Devils (88 goals for, 72 goals against): +16
4. New York Rangers (82 goals for, 71 goals against): +11
5. Philadelphia Flyers (98 goals for, 87 goals against): +11
6. Carolina Hurricanes (88 goals for, 80 goals against): +8
7. Montreal Canadiens (87 goals for, 84 goals against): +3
8. Toronto Maple Leafs (86 goals for, 91 goals against): -5
9. Winnipeg Jets (82 goals for, 90 goals against): -8
10. Buffalo Sabres (74 goals for, 84 goals against): -10
11. Washington Capitals (77 goals for, 87 goals against): -10
12. Florida Panthers (77 goals for, 90 goals against): -13
13. New York Islanders (74 goals for, 92 goals against): -18
14. Tampa Bay Lightning (94 goals for, 114 goals against): -20
15. Boston Bruins (83 goals for, 106 goals against): -23
Yikes.
That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the Boston Bruins offense and their goaltender all in one fell swoop. Hampered by the injuries to
Nathan Horton (concussion) and
Rich Peverley (knee), along with the loss of back-up
Tuukka Rask, the Bruins have been able to bury the puck some nights, but they've given up the second most goals in the entire conference. Second to only the league-worst Tampa Bay Lightning goaltending tandem -- which gave up an average of 3.45 goals a game over this sample size -- things essentially can't get much worse for the Boston Bruins, right?
I truly and really don't know. What I saw on Thursday night was a mentally drained bunch. They had no answers. Hell, they
still don't have an answer. This is a scary looking club when it comes to their compete level -- or their lack of it, rather -- and the lack of emotion from anybody not named
Shawn Thornton since that day-game affair against Vancouver is somewhat startling.
In other words, the blood? It ain't pumpin'. But who can blame following a slap across the mug on a three-game road swing that left 'em outscored 17 to 5, leaving them with a match-up against the red-hot Philadelphia Flyers before embarking on a cross-country road trip next week. Hey, speaking of the Broad St. Bullies, doesn't this group of Bruins just remind you oh so much of the beloved Flyers from a year ago?
The East's representative in the 2010 Stanley Cup -- a series they'd ultimately lose to Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks -- the Flyers returned as beasts of the East for much of the 2010-11 season, but began to fade towards the homestretch towards the playoffs. Ultimately winning just seven of their final 20 contests, the Flyers would epitomize 'backing into the playoffs' and seemed like a team at their wits end both in terms of mental stability and physical stamina when it came to facing the Bruins in the second round.
Bowing out without a fight in four games, their story (potentially) differs from Boston's in the sense that Boston looks to be a club that has no answer to any adversity thrown their way, and may very well find themselves as a seven seed if they can't pump the brakes on this slide.
The good news in a blog that's likely put you atop a rooftop? Horton's riding a bike, and Peverley has started skating again, but there's still no word on the health packs from Metal Gear Solid I (for Playstation 1, of course) that the Bruins are searching for.
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