After Tuesday night's loss to the high-powered Washington Capitals, who won a franchise record 11th straight on TD Garden ice, the Bruins fell to 12th place in the Eastern Conference. They are 0-6-2 in their last eight, and haven't won on home ice since they beat the Flyers on New Year's Day at Fenway Park.
Maybe we should put the ice down again in America's most beloved ballpark? The Bruins might then get the jump and scoring punch they need. Perhaps a spark will ignite some scoring.
Boston has scored just one goal in five of their last seven games. They are a league-worst in NHL goals, having scored only 124 this season. That's more than 50 fewer goals than what they scored last year at this point.
So what are they waiting for? Clearly the missing piece to the playoff puzzle is a quality goal scorer. Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli needs to make a deal ASAP. Unless they want to plummet further down in the standings and wrap up their season on April 11th in Washington as scheduled, something needs to get done.
The Bruins' management team has worked too hard over the last couple of years to bring back the fan base on Causeway Street. They have assembled a Stanley Cup contender team and have put a solid product on the ice. The problem is that nothing is going right for Boston right now.
Don't expect the Bruins to be sellers in the upcoming weeks. Allowing the team to drop even closer to being a bottom-feeder in the league is just not an option. The fans will run for the mountains, and you won't get them back this time.
Only two points separate the Bruins from the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 8th spot in the East, and four points will get them up in the top six. They are still in it, therefore there's no reason to aim for a high draft pick versus a playoff bid.
Progressively over the last three games we've noticed improved play from the Black and Gold. Tuesday against Washington, the Bruins were the better team through two periods. Maybe that effort will carry over for a solid three periods on Thursday night against hated rival Montreal, and two points will finally be collected for the first time in 28 days.
Right now, things are about as bad as they can get.
