Bruins' Persistent Struggles Against Western Conference Expose Biggest Flaws
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Stats rarely tell the whole story, especially shots on goal. The Bruins out-shot the Nashville Predators 29-24 at the Bridgestone Arena Thursday night, but that doesn't mean they were high-quality chances. The lackluster effort leaves the Bruins at 1-8 against Western Conference playoff teams, a record that ultimately shows how far they really are from Stanley Cup contention.
The Bruins are staying alive in the Eastern Conference playoff race because of their 10-5 record against the other seven teams in the Eastern playoff picture as of Friday, and dominance against non-playoff teams. But once they take the ice against the strongest competition in the West, their flaws are unmistakable and, ultimately, their downfall.
Nashville's superiority on defense showed, as Shea Weber and Roman Josi faced a ton of Bruins shot attempts but mostly kept the Bruins from getting too close to the net - and when they did get close, they couldn't bury their chances. Goaltender Pekka Rinne faced only five shots from in the slot or below the faceoff circle. Coach Claude Julien agreed that the game was not enough of a challenge for Rinne, who earned his third shutout of the season.
"I didn't think we battled or worked hard enough to get on the inside," said Julien. "For the longest of time there, we just seemed to be playing on the outside and making it easy for their goaltender to make those saves."
On the Bruins' backend, Zdeno Chara's play continues to drop off, as he was fourth on the team in time on ice (21:48) but finished with the team's fourth-worst CorsiRel percentage, meaning that when Chara was on the ice, the Bruins made only 30.8 percent of the total shot attempts by either team. The captain is unfortunately not playing at the level of a top-pairing defenseman this season, but Julien doesn't have much of a choice with the personnel he has.
Defense around the net has been arguably the Bruins' biggest problem this season, and it hurt them again Thursday night. Craig Smith darted for what felt like an eternity to a loose puck just below the faceoff circle and buried the shot to open the scoring. Zach Trotman failed to clear the front of the net despite having more than enough time to do so, flailing his stick around like a fly swatter, while Chara curled toward the corner as the puck bounced straight at the net and could not lumber back into position.
The Bruins' flaws become glaring and smother their chances of winning whenever they run into a team who can exploit them. Nashville has enough defense to shut down the likes of Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron when they are at their best, while their big forwards like Ryan Johansen went toe-to-toe with Bergeron & Co. on faceoffs (11-for-17) and frequently out-muscled the Bruins in loose puck battles. The Preds spent more time in their defensive zone than the final score indicates, but they did a better job of limiting quality scoring chances and breaking out of their zone, yet another problem that at times fatally hurts the Bruins' chances.
If the Bruins can continue to win consistently against their competition in the Eastern Conference, they will comfortably secure a playoff spot. But with seven games remaining on the schedule against the current Western Conference playoff teams, including Saturday against Tyler Seguin and the Dallas Stars, they still have plenty of chances to overcome their flaws - or continue to struggle.
Nonetheless, the Bruins do have their share of glaring issues, and when the team heads out west, they manifest themselves more than anywhere else.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
