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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.