Kalman: Bruins Make Sweeney Look Smart With Florida Sweep, Surge To First Place
BOSTON (CBS) -Just as everyone predicted when the Bruins were slaughtered in the 2016 Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium, 2 ½ months later the Bruins share first place in the Atlantic Division with Tampa Bay.
Despite facing the toughest schedule out of all the Eastern Conference teams in the playoff chase after the trade deadline, the Bruins were lead-pipe locks to win four of their next five and earn points in five straight games after general manager Don Sweeney decided to retain potential unrestricted free agent Loui Eriksson and add forward Lee Stempniak and defenseman John-Michael Liles in trades.
Who am I kidding? The Bruins are shocking the world right now.
The Bruins' 1-0 overtime win in Tampa on Tuesday improved their record since the trade deadline to 4-0-1 and they now have the same 83 points as the Lightning, who have one game in hand.
It hasn't always been pretty. After surrendering 51 shots on net and blowing two three-goal leads in an overtime win against Florida on Monday, the Bruins gave up 42 more shots against the Lightning. But one of goaltender Jonas Gustavsson's best performances in years and the Patrice Bergeron-Brad Marchand connection (Marchand scored at 0:10 of overtime) made sure the extra point went Boston's way.
If there's a common thread, other than timely scoring and stingy goaltending, during the Bruins' recent run of success, it's character. This Bruins team has had several opportunities to fold up shop after blowing multi-goal leads and late leads. Instead the Bruins have toughed it out and never given up belief. That's why the only loss in the past five games – and overtime loss to NHL-leading Washington – felt sort of like a win. The Bruins have played some of the best teams in the League, including a Tampa Bay team that outclassed them 4-1 just before the trade deadline, and faced them head on like a high school freshman trying to disprove the toughness of the senior bully. For those mulling coach Claude Julien's strengths, this has also been one: making teams of all types believe and stick to the program.
In the short run, Sweeney's two trades have given the Bruins the jolt they needed. With Stempniak providing more of a threat on a line with Bergeron and Marchand, there are no shifts off for opponents trying to slow Boston's top trio. And with Brett Connolly moved down to the fourth line, there's more skill on that trio than the Bruins have enjoyed in years. Plus the Bruins have real depth and versatility, with Julien able to juggle his wings as he sees fit. Against Florida it was Connolly and David Pastrnak switching lines when the Bruins needed reliability down the stretch. Instead of commending the coach's ability to put the Bruins in a position to win a game they might've had no business winning, critics yell that the coach is ruining the kid. Well, that kid came back and took a regular shift in the grueling, playoff-like win in Tampa. Sure, Julien did some more juggling with Connolly, Pastrnak, Matt Beleskey and Landon Ferraro at certain points in the third period. But Julien did what he had to do to give the Bruins the best chance to win. As Julien would say, that's called coaching.
Liles has come in handy, especially with Kevan Miller sidelined indefinitely with an Alex Ovechkin-delivered upper-body injury. So far Liles has played a safe game and has handled playing both left and right side. Without him, the Bruins would've been forced to play both Joe Morrow (who's improving) and Zach Trotman (who showed in Florida he's regressing) in the same game. Now they're back to playing just one young defenseman a night. Again, the back-end play hasn't been pretty, but the Bruins have been able to overcome mistakes with a sufficient amount of scoring, goaltending and gumption.
Of course, the criticism of Sweeney's moves and non-moves at the deadline didn't include doubt that he had improved the current team. Assuming Stempniak doesn't go into a Jaromir Jagr-sized scoring drought and Liles doesn't start channeling Greg Zanon, the Bruins are better equipped now to grab a higher seed for the postseason and win a round. But anything shy of a trip to the Stanley Cup finals will keep open judgement of Sweeney's deadline maneuvers.
Will the Bruins retain Eriksson? Will they be able to sufficiently replace him if he walks? Will the Bruins have enough draft picks to make a trade for a legit top-four defenseman or will they miss the picks they dealt away? Will some of the prospects the Bruins have been lauding quickly blossom into NHL-caliber players that will make free agency and trades moot or will they flop and leave the Bruins overpaying for talent down the road? These are the questions that will have to be answered before Sweeney's 2016 trade deadline can be graded.
Fresh off a Florida sweep and a rise to first place, though, Sweeney has earned an 'A.' Just as everyone expected.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
