Peter Chiarelli: Is There Still Room For Improvement?
After a four day break for the holidays the Bruins get back to work tonight as they visit the Phoenix Coyotes then travel to Dallas to take on the Stars Saturday night. The Bruins were on a roll before the break and look to continue the six game winning streak.
Toucher & Rich are on vacation so Ryan Johnston and Mike Flynn talked with Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli about the success of this club, coming back from the holiday break, the health of this team and expectations of players.
The Bruins have a 20-2-1 record over their last 23 games and are battling some injuries right now. Did this four day holiday break come at a good time for the club or could it affect the success this team had?
"I think it's a good time. I guess it's a day longer than normal so let's put it in perspective a little bit, but prior to the break we had two games in five days and after the break we're again going to have two games in five days. We're going to pay for it in the end with the March schedule, but it's always, especially for us, it's always good to get some time off."
"I don't know if you'll see our best tonight, but we were crisp in practice yesterday so we'll see where it goes."
Rich Peverley has been plagued by a nagging undisclosed injury and skated for the first time in nine days yesterday. When do the B's think they'll get Peverley back in the lineup?
"He's questionable for tonight, but it's kind of a mildly chronic thing where you want to be ahead of it. So that's why we've been proactive with it and he may miss two or three games here rather than if you keep him playing he's going to miss 10 or 15 down the line, he's day-to-day."
The Bruins on a whole have had pretty good luck with injuries this season and have been able to put a consistent lineup on the ice night in and night out. Obviously this fact helps explain the success the team's having.
"We've been very lucky with injuries and I do knock on wood often because eventually the odds catch up with you, but it's been outstanding with us and injuries. We haven't had any catastrophic ones and I hope we don't."
Even with the success the team has had over the past weeks there is always room for improvement and things that need work. Is there anything that Chiarelli thinks this team needs to improve on heading into this stretch of games?
"Well again it's hard to improve on the record that we've had...Consistency, I think maybe getting over these rest days and this period of inactivity and get rolling again, that's probably our biggest challenge."
Tyler Seguin came in last year and got a chance to show what he could do in the playoffs and this year he been producing as well and Brad Marchand has also carried over his great play from last year. The combination of those two with Patrice Bergeron, how much will that help those young guys in their progression this season.
"Well first and foremost playing with Patrice who's obviously a terrific two way player, that side of their game will improve and he will require that it improves, he'll tell them and demand it...Patrice will benefit because he'll have two speedy guys on his line and he's required to keep up the tempo with the puck."
The Bruins will face the Phoenix Coyotes and the Dallas Stars next. What can the Bruins expect to see out of these two teams?
"Phoenix, they're missing their top goalie so they'll probably collapse a lot so they'll circle the wagons a bit. You might see a tight defensive approach from them and that the foundation of their coach's style. Dallas again a little more upbeat a little bit more up tempo offensively. They've had some goalie struggles in the last little bit I think they might be a little deeper than Phoenix."
Plus listen as the GM discussed Benoit Pouliot, has he met or exceeded expectations?
