Brad Marchand and Taylor Hall don't fear the Boston Bruins will go into a tail-spin.
The Bruins stars remain confident in the team's chances for success in the aftermath of consecutive losses they suffered this week on the road. The Bruins' record dropped to 3-3 after they lost to the Panthers on Wednesday and the Hurricanes on Thursday, but Boston's competitiveness against the undefeated leaders of the Atlantic and Metropolitan Divisions, respectively, suggests to Marchand the B's are capable of winning a lot of games this season.
"They're both very good teams," Marchand said Thursday in a press conference, per the Bruins' website. "Got to give them credit. We knew they were gonna be good coming in. I think we can play with both of them; there were times within the game where they controlled it, times where we controlled both games. We just didn't capitalize on our chances, and they got a couple lucky bounces that turned the tide.
"I think there are some things that we need to continue to work on and get better and that's all you've got to do with these games … there's a lot of games in a season and we just have to take what we need to get better on and work at it and go from there."
Boston outshot Carolina 33-24, and the Bruins' play in 5-on-5 situations particularly encouraged Hall.
"You talk about the process and how you want to play all season long," Hall said in a postgame press conference, per the Bruins' website. "I thought there was some really good parts to our game. I thought 5-on-5 there was a lot that we can take from it. The power play was a bit of a letdown. But some really good players on the ice there and you trust them over the course of the year to make plays and produce. Back to the drawing board a little bit there.
"Coming into a building against a team that's hard to play against on a back-to-back, thought we controlled play pretty well 5-on-5."
Marchand's and Hall's reasons for optimism are similar to those head coach Bruce Cassidy offered after the back-to-back defeats.
The Bruins are back in Boston, where they'll rest and retool ahead of Saturday's game against the Panthers at TD Garden. Perhaps those good things Marchand and Hall noted will translate into better results on home ice.
