That's the very team that granted the Bruins entry into the history books by overcoming a 3-0 series deficit to send the B's home early for the summer in the Eastern Conference semifinals should be on the minds of every single Boston sports fan this week. Heck, fans can all still taste the bitterness of that colossal defeat left in their mouths.
All I am hearing about is the Patriots' upcoming division battle with the J-E-T-S, which is completely understandable. But maybe if the Bruins hadn't dropped four of their last five games, maybe if they had played a full 60 minutes of hockey in those losses, and maybe if the product on the ice was more like the month of October and less like what we remember from the final four games of the B’s season last year, then maybe we’d hear more about the Bruins this week.
The Bruins need to get people interested again. The best way for them to get back into the conversation in a sports-crazed town where the quarterback's tresses are on the front page of the morning paper is to string together a handful of quality games — games that aren’t handed to their opponent in the first period (thank you, Atlanta) and games that are more like the Nov. 10 victory in Pittsburgh.
Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli acknowledged his team’s lack of effort on Monday, saying, "I have been disappointed. It's hard enough winning when you don’t score the first goal, but when you're spotting a team two or three goals, you’re playing a different game. And momentum is so big in this game. We have to figure out what is going on, whether it's from a personnel perspective or otherwise, and we’re going to continue to do that."
Inserting Marc Savard, who is closing in on a return to game action, will certainly help the slumping Bruins. And soon enough, winger Marco Sturm will be back as well. But in the meantime, the Bruins have to find a way to win games now, especially given that the Flyers are arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference. Less than 24 hours after that game is a rematch with the resurgent Tampa Bay Lightning.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Bruins, so if they want to kick it up a notch and get their team back in the conversation, they can start with a moral and confidence-boosting win in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.
If not, it'll be back to water cooler talk about Goldilocks and his new shoes.
