Hurley: With Blown Lead In Calgary, Boston Bruins Are Officially A Mess
BOSTON (CBS) -- A defining mark of the Claude Julien era in Boston has been simple: build a lead, protect the net, win the game. And for the first seven years of Julien's tenure with the Bruins, it worked nearly every time. As recently as last year, the Bruins were regarded as one of the very best closing teams in the NHL. Teams simply could not mount comebacks against the Boston Bruins.
In years past, a two-goal lead through 40 minutes when the team is facing an opponent on a swing through the Western Conference meant that fans back home could go to bed and sleep easy, knowing full well that they'd wake up to see the Bruins had won.
This year, however, it's clear that things are very different. And Monday night in Calgary showed how.
The Bruins scored early, they doubled their lead, they got a spectacular save from Tuukka Rask to keep the Flames off the board in the first. Within a minute of the second period's puck drop, they added to their lead with a Torey Krug goal. They led 3-0 just 21 minutes into the game. Goaltender Kari Rammo was yanked. The rout was on. They did give up a goal in the second, somewhat of a fluke, and they did let a four-minute power play go by the boards, but they still took a two-goal lead into the second intermission.
They were well on their way to earning a win and "righting the ship," so to speak, but in the third, whatever it is that haunts the 2014-15 iteration of the Boston Bruins came back to rear its ugly head yet again.
A little over three minutes into the third period, Dennis Seidenberg collided with Patrice Bergeron, giving Sean Monahan space to make a pass. Matt Bartkowski got caught scrambling to cover too much ground, leaving Jiri Hudler all alone. Goal. It was officially a hockey game.
Unable to tack on another goal, the Bruins were forced to try to make the one-goal lead stick. They could not.
David Pastrnak took a high-sticking penalty, and just nine seconds into the power play, Calgary scored. Tie game.
Now at that point, the lead had been blown, but it didn't necessarily have to matter for the Bruins. They still had plenty of time to collect themselves and do what was needed in order to earn the much-needed two points. Giving up a loser point to a Western Conference team wouldn't really matter much to them if they could just find a way to win.
But in the four minutes left in regulation, the Bruins mustered just one shot on net. In overtime, they managed three.
And then they lost the game.
It was another fluke -- this one a T.J. Brodie backhand flip that deflected off Brad Marchand's stick blade, over the outstretched arm of Rask, off the top of the net and then off Rask's right shoulder and into the net.
It was a fittingly ugly ending, as there was no way to paint a pretty picture after this one. The Bruins fell to 1-4-1 in the month of February, a precipitous fall back to earth after an 8-1-3 January. A 3-0 lead vanished. Another opportunity to gain separation in the standings from the Panthers came and went.
"They just took it to us, and eventually it's not going to work. You gotta push back at some point, and we didn't do that," Bartkowski told BostonBruins.com. "And you see what the result was."
The Bruins next head to Edmonton to face a team that is objectively terrible. Boston may let 21-year-old netminder Malcolm Subban make his NHL debut. Then again, after the events on Monday night, they may not have that luxury. Suddenly, a Wednesday night matchup in Edmonton borders on must-win territory.
Perhaps it's been this way for some time, but a blown 3-0 lead in Calgary confirms it beyond a doubt: The Boston Bruins are a mess.
Obviously, a loss to the Oilers won't end Boston's season -- not officially anyway. They will still likely make the playoffs as the eight seed, but given the whoopings they've received lately from the top-seeded Canadiens, how long would that run realistically last? With the March 2 trade deadline creeping ever closer, and with the Bruins' comfort in a playoff spot slipping more each day, it's getting harder and harder to believe that there is any one deal or even one series of trades that could save this season.
Read more from Michael Hurley by clicking here. You can email him or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
