Bruins are confident they can reestablish the flow that is missing from their game - The Boston Globe
Thursday's rout in Carolina was the latest example of how penalties are dragging down their performance.
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RALEIGH, N.C. — When the battles were over Thursday night, the battle cries were the same: Time to stick together.
On the heels of an 8-2 shellacking at the hands of the Hurricanes, the Bruins locker room at the newly renamed Lenovo Center was quiet. Confidence, however, still hung in the air.
Confidence that the recent skid the team has been on — dropping five of six games — can be halted with work. Teamwork, to be exact.
“Well, we’re going to get out of it together. That’s the only way,” said David Pastrnak, who assisted on both Boston goals. “Again, tightening up as a group together and finding a way to win games against the good teams.
“And that’s how sometimes you get to know each other, know what to expect, and we just need to get on a winning streak and compete. Compete level needs to be way higher. Details. That’s going to get us out of there.”
They couldn’t match up with Carolina and were forced into illegalities — three high sticking and two interference penalties — to try to staunch the bleeding. That almost always backfires, and it did against Rod Brind’Amour’s club, which scored three demoralizing power-play goals.
As of Friday, the Bruins led the NHL with 134 penalty minutes.
“Definitely move our feet,” said Pastrnak, when asked how the Bruins can stay out of the penalty box. “There’s a lot of stick penalties, high sticking, so that’s one. But honestly, this game, we just weren’t good enough five-on-five at all. They were all over us and we’ve got to be better.”
When a team is forced to spend an exorbitant amount of time killing penalties, it can’t establish a flow, and in the Bruins’ case, it has their most creative offensive player — Pastrnak — spending too much time watching and not enough time skating.
The Bruins, perennially among the league’s elite penalty-killing teams, are squashing opponents on the man-advantage at just a 76 percent clip.
Coach Jim Montgomery gave his lines a complete makeover for the Carolina game, but because of special teams situations, none of them was able to form chemistry or generate chances.
Tinkering with lines is usually done to generate a spark. It also can have the opposite effect, though Bruins players dismissed the notion that the juggling has hurt their confidence.
“I mean, Monty [is] just starting to get us going, so obviously it didn’t work,” said Pastrnak. “So, the mixing lines needs to happen. So personally, I have no problem with it. I can read off anybody.
“It’s just like I said, right now, it’s not about a combination. We are not good enough as a team, and that’s where it starts.”
Trent Frederic concurred.
“I think we’re used to it,” he said. “I think that’s kind of something they’ve done for whatever this is three years now with Monty. I don’t think it’s anything too crazy. I don’t think that’s the reason or anything like that. I think it just comes down to individuals and playing as a team.”
Under Montgomery, the Bruins got off to excellent starts the last two seasons, so this uninspired beginning is uncharted territory.
Montgomery said it’s not a case of guys just waiting for the magic to happen.
“I look at it a little differently,” he said. “We had a lot of success the last two years and we’re first place in the league at Thanksgiving the last two years. We never achieved anything we wanted to do.
“Right now, we’re not happy. Nobody’s happy with what’s going on, but we will get out of it, and we will be better, and hopefully it creates a better result come playoff time.”
Pastrnak preached patience as well
“It’s definitely something new,” he said. “Usually we have good starts, but honestly, it’s very early. So, it’s good.
“We need to get together, tighten up, learn, and the only way we’re going to get out of there is together and to compete. So, we have two games in two days. That’s a perfect way to get back on the winning track.”
