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My patience is wearing thin with the “leaders” of this team. I have more than enough patience with all of the Bruins’ young rookies; frankly their growing pains haven’t been all that painful. Jake DeBrusk (5G, 7A) has shown real promise, and, aside from a recent injury, Anders Bjork (3G, 6A) has shown a knack for scoring. Defensively, Charlie McAvoy (2G, 9A) is logging serious minutes (23:29 ATOI) and improving his game on a seemingly nightly basis.

David Krejci has played in only half of the team’s 22 games to date, and is injured yet again. He’s somehow managed to produce at almost a point-per-game pace (3G, 6A) but when he’s been in the lineup his play has been inconsistent at best. Krejci has 2G and 6A in 7 wins, and has just 1G and 0A in 4 losses; he has also been held scoreless in six of eleven games. His lack of ability to stay in the lineup (or have any sense of urgency to remain in it) is a huge concern, and he has routinely had slow starts when coming back from injury.

Zdeno Chara has at least been in the lineup every game, however his inconsistency issues are on par with those of Krejci. He has 2G and 4A (just over half that of his rookie counterpart), and all six of his points have come in just three games. While Chara is carrying a +6 rating on the season, he is a +12 in 10 wins and a -6 in 12 losses. The 40-year old Captain isn’t expected to be one of the team’s leading scorers, but you also can’t expect the team to be consistent if its leader isn’t.

And finally, that brings me to Tuukka Rask. Lately there has been a lot of talk about which goalie to play; Tuukka or Dobby? In fact, it’s not ALL about the goaltending, but also how the team plays in front of each netminder. Well, here’s everything you need to know. All indisputable facts. All in black and white.

• In 13 starts Tuukka has 3 wins, a 2.91 GAA and a .899 SV%. Dobby has more than doubled that win total in just 9 starts, and has not lost a game in regulation.
• Rask’s 2.91 GAA is up 0.65 points from his career average of 2.26, a rank that puts him first amongst all active goalies ahead of the likes of Jonathan Quick, Braden Holtby, and Henrik Lundvist
• Tuukka’s career SV% is .922. 15 goalies have a SV% of .920 or better this season, none of which are named Tuukka Rask: Anton Khudobin is 3rd in the NHL with a .932 SV%
• The Bruins have only scored more than 3 goals in 6 out of 22 games (27.3%), doing so four times for Dobby and just twice for Tuukka.
• In Tuukka’s 13 starts the team is averaging 2.15 goals per game. In Khudobin’s 9 starts it is averaging 3.55 goals per game, a whopping 1.4 goals per game bump!
• In the 11 of Tuukka’s starts (84.6%) when the Bruins have scored 3 goals or less, he has 1 win. In the 5 games (55.6%) that Khudobin has gotten the same treatment, he has 4 wins.
• In the 5 seasons from 2009-2014 Tuukka had a GAA of 2.05 or lower 4 times while averaging only 36 starts per year. In the last 3 seasons he has averaged over 64 starts and his GAA jumped from 2.04 to 2.30 to 2.56 before finally readjusting to a 2.23 in 2016-17.

So yeah, those numbers speak for themselves, but allow me to shed some light on some of the reasons I think we are seeing these trends. First, I don’t think Tuukka was truly as good as his numbers would lead you to believe in his first few seasons. Why? As I previously stated he was averaging just 36 starts per year, and just 29 from ’09-’12 as a backup to Tim Thomas. The burden wasn’t on his shoulders to be the go-to guy, and maybe the league hadn’t figured him out yet. His mechanics and positioning haven’t changed from 2009 to today, but it seems like his confidence (and maybe more importantly his health) has.

Secondly, the team in front of him has changed dramatically since those Cup years. Now, this “different” team is the same one in front of Dobby, but we are just looking at the impact on Tuukka right now. Andrew Ference was a +24 in 7 seasons with the Bruins, he left after 2013. Johnny Boychuk was a +88 in 6 seasons with the Bruins, he left after 2014. Dennis Seidenberg was a +54 in 7 seasons with the Bruins, he left after 2016. All three defenseman were absolutely essential in the B’s Stanley Cup victory in 2011; they were vital pieces of the team’s continued success under Claude Julien in the subsequent 3 years, with both Thomas and Rask in net.

After Chara, the Bruins defensive corps has been a revolving door for the last 3+ years. With fellow tenured blue-liners Adam McQuaid and Kevan Miller frequently on the injury list, we’ve seen younger less experienced players come and go (most notably Dougie Hamilton and Colin Miller), and that trend has not yet been resolved. I do feel that Brandon Carlo and McAvoy are big step in the right direction, however.

A combination of fatigue, injuries, unfamiliar faces and poor results has gotten us to where we are today…with many more questions than answers. Hopefully all three of the aforementioned slackers can figure it out and get going, but until then the Bruins need to search for answers elsewhere.

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Have you ever tried to teach a toddler how to swim? You grab them under the armpits and sorta toss them into the pool, and then wait and see if they can flail around enough to stay afloat. Well, that’s essentially what Bruce Cassidy has had to do to most of the guys on this Bruins team. It’s been a rough week, and right now the Bs are doing all they can to tread water in what’s a very congested middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference.

As it stands today, the Bruins would be way outside the playoffs (12th place, 15 points) looking in. Luckily, the team has only played 14 games and has at least 2-3 games at hand against most of its foes that are a couple of points ahead in the standings. The way the team has executed (key word executed; not played, EXECUTED) these past three games won’t be good enough if it hopes to keep pace over the next couple of weeks.

Saturday 11/4 vs. Washington:

• A 3-2 loss is a far better result than I gave Boston credit for; much more lethal Bruins teams have been blanked by Holtby in recent years.
• Ovechkin got his (once) but was otherwise kept in check
• Bruins pushback, especially in the second period, was promising after going down 2-0 in the first.
• Boston outshot Washington, won more faceoffs and was better on the PP, but couldn’t translate into a win
• Tom Wilson scored two goals (a feat he’s never accomplished in an NHL game prior to last weekend). If the Bruins simply did not allow a bottom-6 forward to beat them, the result may have gone the other way!

Monday 11/6 vs. Minnesota:

• Total team victory all around – TEN different players contributed on 5 Boston goals. It looked like the Bruins had jets on their skates, they were flying around the ice all night.
• Devan Dubnyk looked like a shell of himself. The 6’6″ goaltender was yanked after 40 mins, allowing 4 goals and posting just a .833 SV%
• Frank Vatrano finally got the monkey off his back, soring his first goal in 10 games. (eye roll)
• Tim Schaller was my hero yet again; his forechecking and physical presence along the boards on all 50/50 pucks was awesome to watch.
• David Pastrnak‘s foolishness allowed the Wild back in the game in the 3rd period. Everyone should know by now how Cassidy has addressed this. Bravo Butchy, Bravo!

Wednesday 11/8 @ NYR:

• This game is what I mean by playing really well, but not executing. Boston kept pace with the Rangers in the face off dot and matched their 33 shots, while also staying disciplined and only taking one minor penalty.
• Rob O’Gara was awful in the first period. Poor defensive zone coverage was a huge problem for the Bruins in the first 20 minutes. Both O’Gara, and partner Kevan Miller looked slow and lost.
• Jimmy Vesey scored 2 goals in 29 seconds which is what extended the Rangers’ lead to 3-1. If not for bad defensive play (O’Gara), The Bruins could have been out in front in the third period rather than chasing the score.
• Patrice Bergeron seems to be getting kicked out of face offs left and right. It has been happening all season, but really seemed excessive in New York. One of the times he was actually allowed to execute a draw, it resulted in him scoring a textbook goal in front of Lundqvist to make it 3-2.

Back-to-back with Toronto Nov. 10,11:

The baptism by fire will not cease anytime soon for Boston. Toronto is one of the few teams not in the congested middle of the pack. The Maple Leafs have a well-balanced attack from top to bottom, lead by second year Center, Auston Matthews. The dynamic and talented pivot man is currently day-to-day with an upper body injury, which will keep him out for at least Friday’s game. Toronto surely won’t get any sympathy from the Bruins who are still playing a ragtag crew due to injuries. It will still be an uphill battle against Toronto, but having someone like Matthews out of the lineup is definitely a bit of a boost for the Black and Gold.

Another thing to keep an eye on is Tuukka Rask. The team/ coaching staff has been outspoken all summer about limiting Tuuk’s number of games played. Well, that number is starting to creep up (he’s started 10 of 14 games) and the Bs haven’t given him a night off in two weeks. With 2 games in as many days look for Dobby between the pipes for one of them. Next week the Bruins have the “California road trip”, playing 3 games in 4 days, ALL of which are against above-average competition. The team needs to manage its goalies and let Anton Khudobin play at least one of those as well. After all, he had a dominant 36-save win against the Sharks in their last meeting on October 26.

I have nothing worthwhile to get in to in regards to Thursday night’s game against the Golden Knights. It was a nice sleepy weeknight game that was like watching paint dry. Riley Nash and Sean Kuraly each got their first goal of the season… took them long enough.

Ok, that might have been a little mean. Oh well, get over it. Our lineup is a patchwork quilt right now, so it’s inevitable that someone has to score. It was encouraging to see Jake DeBrusk get back on the score sheet, and Austin Czarnik also chipped in with his first assist of the season. However, until some of the top-end talent gets healthy and back on the ice, it will likely be a painful few weeks to be a Bruins fan.

Here are a couple of things just to catch everyone up on how an NHL roster is constructed: All teams have a salary cap of $75 million and a floor of $55.4 million. All teams are to dress 18 skaters (generally 12 forwards and 6 defenseman), and 2 goalies per game. Usually, teams can keep around 21 skaters on their active lineups, having 3 extras around for some wiggle room with injuries/ call ups, what have you. Through eleven games, the Bruins have already had 26 different skaters dress for at least one game, including 17 forwards and 9 blue-liners.

Let me dig a little deeper for you. Part of the reason the Bs have played eight reserves in the young season is because of a myriad of injuries/illnesses to some of the team’s key players. Very expensive players.

• David Krejci: $7.25mil, has missed 5 out of 11 games and is currently out
• Tuukka Rask: $7mil, has missed 4 out of 11 games and currently has 2 wins
• David Backes: $6mil, has missed 6 out of 11 games and is out for 8 weeks
• Matt Beleskey: $4mil, has been a healthy scratch 4 out of 11 games and currently has 0 points
• Ryan Spooner: $2.875mil, has missed 6 out of 11 games and is currently out
• Adam McQuaid: $2.75mil, has missed 5 out of 11 games and is out 8 weeks

That’s just a hair under $30 million (40%) of the team’s $75 million cap being spent on a bunch of players who either can’t stay healthy, or aren’t good enough to make the lineup on a regular basis. *please insert slow clap here*

As for that less than favorable couple of weeks that I mentioned are on the horizon, the siege begins tomorrow against Washington.

Braden Holtby is currently holding a 2.79 GAA on the season and has a 6-3-0 record in 9 starts, with no shutouts. Don’t let those numbers fool you. In 13 career games against the Bruins, Holtby has an 11-2 record, a .945 SV% and 3 shutouts. The only team he has shutout more than Boston is New Jersey (4), and that’s in significantly more games as the Devils are a divisional rival of the Capitals. The only team Holtby has a better SV% against is Carolina (.947).

Alex Ovechkin doesn’t really need an introduction. The hot-headed Russian (I won’t dignify him with the nickname “Alex the Great”, that can be left to sorry Caps fans) has played at a point-per-game clip against the Bruins. Over his career he has 18G+23A=41P in 42 games, including 6 power play tallies and 4 game-winners. His linemate Nicklas Backstrom has also been supremely efficient when facing the Black and Gold. Backstrom has 6G+29A=35P in 31 career games, with a large chunk of those helpers undoubtedly going Ovie’s way.

Saturday will be Holtby’s first shutout of the season. He has owned the Bs the last 3 seasons and this lineup will need miracles upon miracles to put more than one puck past the stingy netminder. You can pencil in Ovechkin for at least 2 goals as well. After all, he has to keep up with the 3.5 goals per game pace he set for himself two games in to the season. Final score: WSH 4 – BOS 0

This weekend was a rather frustrating one to be a Bruins fan, as we got more tricks than treats heading in to Halloween. 

Saturday night the Bs really stepped up and played a tight physical game against one of the toughest teams in the league, the Los Angeles Kings. I’ll admit I was a little distracted at a Halloween party of my own, but I still saw enough to know that Boston dominated play for much of the game. Unfortunately when it was crunch time, it was all too little too late and turned into a missed opportunity for the Bruins. They failed to score after taking an early 1-0 lead, and then gave up the game winning goal with 0.00001 seconds (give or take a couple decimal points) left in OT. What could have been a statement victory for this fledgling Bruins team wound up being a disappointing 1-point loss. Albeit, Tuukka Rask played well in first game back from injury, but it still wasn’t enough to add a tally to the win column.

Monday night’s showing against Columbus was awful; I’m not even going to beat around the bush. The Blue Jackets came to play hockey, I’m not sure what the Bruins were doing for the first 50 minutes. Yet again, the team took a million stupid penalties that put them behind from the drop. Brad Marchand looked like the Little Ball of Hate again as his careless penalties negated a Bruins power play on TWO separate occasions (hard for special teams play to be effective when it’s cut short by 1:55). Frank Vatrano also took one of the worst high-sticking penalties I’ve seen in recent memory, which amazingly didn’t cost the Bruins a goal. Unlike Saturday night, Tuukka played like garbage and didn’t really help the team’s cause. Boston managed to battle back and take the game to overtime, when again it’s true colors came out and the team fell flat on its face in a shootout.

I guess at the end of the day it’s a wash, as the team got 2 points in 2 games, it’s just a little misleading that they were both late OT losses; the Bs got robbed of a point in what should have been a solid win and stole a point in a game they didn’t deserve to win at all. Bottom line is the team can’t keep playing this Jekyll and Hyde game alternating wins and losses. It needs to play more consistent moving forward, period.