With those words, Boston defenseman Mark Stuart not only described his team's 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night — with a crucial two points on the line — but he also typified the Bruins' up-and-down season.
What else is there to say anymore about this Bruins squad that can be so good one game and in complete disarray the next? Sooner or later it is time to accept what this team is. Right now it's a squad that just can't seem to harness momentum or stay within its game plan for more than two games at a time. It's also clearly a team that misses its leading scorer of the last two seasons, Marc Savard, and a team that simply can't finish.
When a team outshoots its opponent 50-18 as the Bruins did on Thursday night, there is no doubt that the opposing goalie, in this case Antero Niittymaki, deserves plenty of credit. But there is also a lack of finishing involved and that was evident Thursday night, as it has been for most of the season. The Boston power play was 0-for-3 and is still without a goal since the second period of the 2-1 loss to the Penguins on March 7. Beyond that, even 5-on-5, the Bruins couldn't muster more than three goals despite pouring on so many shots.
"Whatever chances we seem to get, we don't bury," head coach Claude Julien said after the game. "And that's certainly a big concern right now and it kind of goes hand in hand with what's happened. With all the opportunities we had, we weren't able to score goals. And again, it makes it tough for us to win hockey games."
Unfortunately, it appears that dilemma might not be solved until the offseason. But if the Bruins can't combat the issue with the 60-minute efforts they've shown they're capable of, that offseason might come a lot sooner than they would like.
The Bruins, as has become their habit on home ice after a big win, didn't show up in the opening minutes Thursday night, and they paid dearly for it as the sizzling Steve Stamkos scored the first of his two goals just 49 seconds in. For whatever reason, the B's didn't come out with the focus and jump they had against Atlanta and New York, and they simply made Tampa Bay look like they were the team chasing better playoff seeding in the Eastern Conference.
"We didn't have a good start tonight," Julien acknowledged. "The opportunities that we gave them, they capitalized on. Defensively, I didn't think we were as sharp as we have been. When you spot the type of players that scored for them tonight some opportunities, they certainly will make the best of it."
Like anyone who has watched this team carefully, Julien just can't seem to figure out how — knowing they're not going to score a lot — his players can forget to do the little things. He can't comprehend how they can let up even the slightest little bit at this time of the season, as they did for brief intervals Thursday night.
"We were winning battles, and at the same time, we also had good speed through the neutral zone," Julien said of the last two games. "When we had good speed through the neutral zone, even when we dumped it in, we had a good forecheck established.
"Tonight, again," he continued, "the second goal is a soft chip. It doesn't get [into the opposing zone], and we've got our D's changing, and there's a second goal. So those are the kind of things that right now are extremely costly. When you're battling for your lives, those things can't happen."
But they did happen and, as a result, the Bruins (78 points) lost a chance to move into a tie for seventh in the East with the Flyers (80 points), who lost in overtime to the Wild. The Bruins also fell four points behind the Canadiens (82 points), while the Thrashers (76 points) pulled within two points following an overtime loss and the Rangers (75 points) are back within three.
As Julien pointed out, even a few bad minutes or a single bad play can mean so much right now, and the Bruins' Jekyll and Hyde act really hurts.
At this point, folks, there really isn't much else to say.
