Kalman: Bruins Not Looking For Luck Amid Four-Game Losing Skid
WILMINGTON – The good news for Bruins fans is that after the team's charter flight landed Friday, the players didn't go on a scavenger hunt for a lucky rabbit's foot or horseshoes.
Even with St. Patrick's Day just less than 24 hours away, they didn't head out on a hunt for leprechauns.
The Bruins, wounded after a three-game winless road trip to Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Florida that extended their overall losing streak to four games, hit the ice. Boston went through an hour-long practice at Ristuccia Arena in an effort to work their way back to some semblance of the team that once looked like an Eastern Conference power and a runaway winner of the Northeast Division.
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There was more talk about taking control of their own destiny and pulling themselves out of the doldrums than there was about luck.
"I think it's not just one area. I think, it's collectively as a group we all can be better in all aspects of the game, and especially in the D zone," said Bruins center Chris Kelly after the up-tempo session that was designed to both improve the Bruins' play and also make sure they broke a sweat after a long road trip and flight. "It's just little things, winning your 1-on-1 battles and paying a little more attention to detail, and your positioning. It's minor things that go a long way to become major things."
From the media scrums I took part in, I didn't hear one mention about bounces, karma or testing the patience of the so-called hockey gods. That's a change from after Thursday night's loss in Florida, where Boston's favorite politician/goalie was trying to sell a bill of good after a 6-2 loss about "I don't know what we did, but we did something to put luck not in our favor. A lot of times you get the luck that you work for. It's not that we're not working, but I haven't seen a run of bounces like this in a long time."
When you think about "Bruins mentality," wallowing in self-pity is pretty much the complete opposite. So as disappointing as it was to hear Thomas blame the fates for Boston's recent poor run, it was refreshing to see them battling each other with speed and physicality during practice. After all, worrying about luck isn't what teams that win three Game 7's and end 39-year championship droughts usually amuse themselves with.
After the practice, Kelly and fellow alternate captain Patrice Bergeron, kept the focus on the Bruins' play and psychological approach, not fairy dust and burnt offerings.
"Yeah, we've got to find some desperation," said Bergeron. "I mean we're aware of the standings and teams are breathing down our necks. It's about us also getting on a roll before getting into the playoffs. It's about finding the desperation, the urgency to do it and we are playing some good teams and some desperate teams, but that shouldn't be an excuse. We need to go out there and it's about us."
Maybe what the Bruins needed more than anything was a challenge from Ottawa for the division crown and a little fear of even missing the playoffs to light a fire under them. Playing mediocre hockey hadn't hurt the Bruins much from New Year's until this recent slump. Now they'll be able to classify themselves as battle-tested once the second season begins, assuming they're still upright and fighting after April 7.
