Dennis Seidenberg

What the Bruins Need to Be Successful

The Boston Bruins are having a strange season. Strange in the sense that they’re considered a “struggling” team even with a top-five record in the NHL and strange in the sense that their once-sound defensive game is suddenly filled with cracks.

In conversations, columns and general musings, it has been difficult to classify this team. The Bruins have yet to really dominate a game but in the same breath, they haven’t exactly been bowled over either. They’ve made some pretty incredible comebacks but yet can’t hold a third period lead at times. Some players have looked elite at times while managing to disappear completely during stretches as well. We’ve been waiting for the team to take it to the next gear and finally break through for 30 games now. They haven’t.

It’s bad but it’s also not bad. Strange, right?

With the trade deadline less than two weeks away, it’s imperative that Peter Chiarelli add to the Bruins roster because the current team isn’t going to do much in the playoffs. But what does the team need to be successful? Glad you asked.

Will the Boston Bruins Ever Fix Their Power Play?

There isn’t much to say about the 2013 Boston Bruins that hasn’t already been said—and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Prior to Tuesday night’s 4-3 shootout loss to the New York Rangers, the team was off to its best ten-game start in franchise history (8-1-1) behind a torrid goaltender tandem, contributions from all four lines and shrewd coaching from Claude Julien. For right now, the players are clicking and the Bruins are quickly becoming powerhouses of the Eastern Conference. So why does it feel like something is missing?

Because there is.

Bruins’ Defensive Depth Tested in Win Over Winnipeg

It didn’t take long for the Boston Bruins to call upon their seventh defenseman to enter their starting lineup. On Monday’s 2-1 shootout win over the Winnipeg Jets, the Bruins were forced to dress newly-acquired defenseman Aaron Johnson in place of Dennis Seidenberg, who was ruled out of the second game of the year with a lower-body injury.

Paired with Johhny Boychuk, Johnson made his presence felt early in the first period after connecting with a flattening hit on Dustin Byfuglien against the boards in Boston’s own zone. Johnson saw 15:14 minutes of ice time in his first game as a Bruin while spending time on the penalty-kill.

Boston Bruins: Ranking Their 2013 Projected Roster

We love our hockey.

We love our hockey so much that on the first Sunday of 2013, we’re able to forget about almost everything else in our lives and welcome the NHL, and all that comes with it, back into our lives. The NHL lockout is over and while many of us have had our team’s goal song on repeat for most of the morning, others have been carefully plotting their teams’ odds for a Stanley Cup in what will be a shortened season of 48 games or so.

Closing the book on the 2011-12 Boston Bruins

Last year, I drove from Boston to Rhode Island to watch both the Eastern Conference Final and the Stanley Cup Final Game 7s. I figured that if I had the chance to watch my favorite team growing up win a championship, I would want to witness it with my dad, the person who influenced me to fall in love with this crazy sport. Of course, the Bruins won both games and I watched it all in with my dad and younger brother right beside me. Somewhere amongst the celebrations, the hugs and the complete shock, I recall my dad telling me to take everything in that’s happening, because there will never be another run quite like the one we had just saw.

Think about it: a total of 25 games including three Game 7 victories, two series of coming back from a 0-2 deficit and a first round victory that was clinched without scoring any power play goals. The 2010-11 Boston Bruins weren’t just good, they were lucky and every single fan who watched any of those games could have told you that. It was magic.

On Wednesday night, Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals between the Bruins and the Washington Capitals, that same mentality of thinking that the team was special, perhaps invincible, last year in the postseason ended up becoming the worse possible thing for every Bruins’ fan’s psyche.

Capitals will present challenges for Bruins

Everyone is picking the Boston Bruins over the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs. Almost unanimously, in fact.

The reason behind each of these picks is the same, too—the Capitals, essentially, aren’t the same feared team they were in years past. If you factor in Washington’s ho-hum record during the regular season and the fact that their goaltending situation is a sort of carousel that would make the Philadelphia Flyers blush, than I guess it would make sense to pick the Bruins over the Capitals.

Me? I’m not sold yet. I might not be sold at all, actually.

With six games remaining, some important decisions looming for Claude Julien and the Boston Bruins

It might be safe to say that out of the six Eastern Conference teams still in the hunt for the playoffs, the Boston Bruins have the most difficult schedule of remaining regular season games. The Bruins will first host the 9th seed Washington Capitals, just two points out of playoff contention before heading to New York for back-to-back games against the all-but-eliminated Islanders and a Rangers team which they’re winless against this season. After that, the Bruins will come back home to play the streaking Pittsburgh Penguins, travel to Ottawa to face the team closest to catching them for the Northeast Division lead and close out the season back in Boston against the Buffalo Sabres who are 7-1-2 in their last ten games.

A bit daunting when you think about how inconsistent the Bruins have been at times during the season, eh?

The good news is that the Bruins could potentially clinch a playoff spot in their next game with a win or overtime loss against Washington on Thursday. The bad news is that the division, along with their potential first round opponent, is far from being decided. Pair that with some tough decisions that Boston coach Claude Julien will face regarding starting goaltending and resting key players and you have to think: this will not be an easy two weeks for the Boston Bruins.