The Boston Bruins had a horrible performance on Tuesday night in a game where they did nothing right. Boston has to look themselves in the mirror and realize that their performance was inexcusable.
Brutal. That is the only way to describe the Boston Bruins loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
I feel like everyone who watched that entire game deserves a check from either team. It was not a great game for a multitude of reasons.
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Boston got shutout by the Florida Panthers. How on Earth does that happen? The Panthers are a decent young team, but there is no reason to be shutout.
Roberto Luongo isn’t an amazing goalie. He’s almost 40 years old. With all of the great scorers on Boston’s roster, they need to score at least one goal.
So let’s get right into it. Here are 5 observations from Boston’s terrible performance on Tuesday.
1. It sucks to play hockey in Florida
At this point, I just feel bad for the Florida Panthers. They have some young guys who will have good NHL careers, and they are stuck in Florida.
The crowd was awful. They weren’t even into the game. NESN’s Billy Jaffe unleased a verbal bomb on Panthers fans.
It seems like the Panthers are running their course in Florida. Maybe we will see Quebec get a team back or see the NHL move to a new market.
The Panthers fans definitely need to step it up.
2. Jaroslav Halak has come down to Earth
Jaroslav Halak had an amazing start to the season, but the 33-year-old has looked pretty bad as of late.
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Halak has allowed 8 goals in his last two appearances. On Tuesday he allowed 5 goals. Now if these were great goals I would only be slightly mad. I know that the Bruins defense can have bad games, (which they did) but Halak gave up some horrible goals.
He made some great saves, but when you allow 5 goals it doesn’t matter. Halak needs to do better.
With Tuukka Rask looking great as of late I think Halak will see more and more time pass between starts. He is finally starting to look like the backup goaltender.
Bruins fans had to expect this. If Halak would have been dominant for the entire season it would have been a miracle. He would’ve been a Vezina Trophy winner. There’s a better chance of seeing a pig flying out your window as you read this.
Halak needs to recover or else the Bruins will have to start riding Tuukka Rask.
3. The Bruins miss Charlie McAvoy
The Boston Bruins really missed Charlie McAvoy on Tuesday night. Hopefully, McAvoy will be able to return from his concussion soon.
Boston’s defense was horrible on Tuesday night. That is pretty clear when you allow 5 goals. There were times when the Panthers were just able to walk into the Bruins zone.
With McAvoy on the ice, they would have a much better defender compared to guys like Jeremy Lauzon and Connor Clifton. Also, I understand that Torey Krug is more of an offensive defenseman, but he didn’t have a great night defending.
Speaking of offense the Bruins could have used McAvoy in the offensive zone. You have to think that he would have helped somewhat.
McAvoy has been out for a while. Concussions are a serious health issue, but the Bruins need him back soon. Matt Grzelcyk and Brandon Carlo are not supposed to be 1st pairing defenseman. This isn’t an insult it’s just the truth. Carlo and Grzelcyk are both better suited for the 2nd and 3rd pairing.
Hopefully when Charlie McAvoy returns the Bruins defense will improve.
4. The Boston Bruins need a goal scorer
There is no reason that the Boston Bruins should be shut out by the Florida Panthers. I’m not saying that they should have scored 3 or 4 goals, but getting blanked by the Panthers is inexcusable.
There will be games when the Bruins first line will be shut down. Boston’s other lines then need to pick up the slack and help them out.
With Zdeno Chara and Kevan Miller out, there has been a lot of talk about the Bruins going out and getting an enforcer. Now I will admit that it is clear that opposing teams feel that they can take advantage of Boston, but that shouldn’t be the priority.
Boston needs to get a goal scorer. They have plenty of prospects. They can get rid of draft picks. They need to get a 2nd line winger to help out David Krejci.
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I hope to see the Boston Bruins making moves at the trade deadline. If they are smart and find a quality player I think they have a serious shot at winning the Stanley Cup.
5. The Boston needs to be smarter
The Boston Bruins need to be smarter. If you play dumb hockey you aren’t going to win games.
Boston ended up in the penalty box 7 times. That is a ginormous amount. When you are in the box that much there’s a good chance you are going to lose.
Boston’s lack of discipline ended up being one of the many reasons they lost. They allowed 2 power play goals. They were absolute backbreakers coming late in the game.
Hopefully, the Bruins will be able to learn from this game. At least then they will get something positive out of it.
The Bruins just didn’t show up. When you are missing important players like Zdeno Chara, Charlie McAvoy, and Patrice Bergeron you can’t do that.
Boston has a chance to quickly turn things around as they go up against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Hopefully, Boston will at least be able to score a goal in that game.