The Ottawa Senators won't go away and it is really fucking irritating. They're like the Bruins herpes infection, they always hang back and hang back and crop up at the worst time. There's nothing you can do to send them away either. No medication will take care of it, no amount of injury will send them off and they're currently in prime position to strike down a Bruins team that is mentally soft.
Yeah, you heard me right. This team is mentally soft. They're softer than a sneaker full of baby shit. I find it amazing that a team like Ottawa can battle through injuries with some key guys outs (Karlsson, Spezza, Anderson) but Chris Kelly (LOL) and David Krejci go down and suddenly it's a sinking ship. Oh no, we lost a replacable third liner and a real second line center how are we ever going to get out of this?
The real issue is the defense and all year it's been the defense. Not a third line winger, not a scoring winger - the defense. The Bruins defense is suddenly a shell of what it has been in the previous years. Johnny Boychuk, Andrew Ference and Adam McQuaid have been terrible, but you don't expect McQuaid to be a suepr defenseman because he's a third pairing. Ference and Boychuk are different. Boychuk is getting paid like a number 2 defenseman, but he's playing like a number 5 defenseman.
I think this is also a great point to bring up how bad Peter Chiarelli has handled re-signing guys. I feel like he's overpaid a lot of players (Lucic, Krejci, Boychuk, Kelly, Peverley) and they haven't produced. You already know my feelings on Lucic, but tthe same rings true for Boychuk and Krejci. Has he hit on a few? Of course. Marchand is a steal right now, but based on PC's track record - Marchand will sign a 4 year, $28M contract in the offseason and then regress.
It's frustrating because now you have morons saying that the Bruins are losing third period leads because of Tuukka Rask. You actually have people saying that he shouldn't be the starter or that they should wait and re-sign him in the offseason because he can't "make the timely save". Claude said that, Claude actually said "we didn't get timely saves" in his press conference.
Is this guy for real?
Yeah, you know what I hate? When a team makes a trade for an unreal goalie, backs him up for a few years and then he posts stats like this:
Oh that's right, he just doesn't make a timely save because Winnipeg is ripping shots and spending the latter half of the third period in Boston's own end. I wrote a piece earlier in the year about the Bruins defense and how they've left their goaltenders out to dry and they're doing it again. It started two weeks ago in Pittsburgh when Boston blew a 2-0 lead. Then, 5 days later, they looked like a bunch of monkeys set on fire during the last 90 seconds of a 2-1 Pittsburgh game (a game where Claude had the Merlot line out there with 1:30 left) and then Tuesday night in Winnipeg they gave up three straight goals in the third period.
The issue is that Boston grabs a lead and collapses. They pack it in and then play a prevent style in hopes of getting the puck out of their zone, but they never can. Playing a prevent style defense prevents you from winning. Can we see this team put the medal on the gas and finally end a team like they did against Philadelphia and Washington? Two fucking scrub hockey teams.
I understand the schedule has something to do with it, but when you start blaming everything on the schedule you're the Red Sox.
As for this hockey game, you know what you're getting with the Senators at this point. They aren't going away and they are only a few points behind you for 4th place in the Eastern Conference. Another rough thing about Ottawa? Robin Lehner absolutely owns the Bruins. In 2 games played this season, Lehner is 0-0-2 but he has a GAA of 1.87 and a SV% of .951. Those are some pretty good numbers against a good hockey team.
After the jump, it's the jump off...
