The tone for a team always starts from the top. And all the Bruins’ leaders have been poor of late, with the possible exception of McAvoy who’s played just ok. Bergy, Marchand, Krej, Pasta, those guys haven’t been good. And when that happens it’s hard to expect much from the rest of the roster. We’ve still seen flashes, but no consistency.
You can’t help but wonder just how much effort and energy this team poured into the first two-thirds of the season. The roster is not as good as their record would suggest, which means they’ve played above themselves and probably had to dig pretty deep to do so, although the outstanding form of Ullmark has certainly helped. They’re likely paying the price for that now and they’re flat and lacking motivation. So be it, they’ve earned the right and points cushion to have a slump.
Rough patches happen. Better now than in mid-April. But the question and challenge is how and when do they pull themselves out of it? Some of the coaching and player management for the first time this season seems questionable, and that's arguably not helping. Sort it out. Plenty of teams have peaked too soon, plenty have stumbled but reheated at the right time. The Bruins want to be the latter. They have almost all their chips loaded on this season. This is their opportunity, even if there is a tomorrow it’s not going to be as bright and favorable as today. So they simply have to find their form and legs for when it all counts most.
You can’t help but wonder just how much effort and energy this team poured into the first two-thirds of the season. The roster is not as good as their record would suggest, which means they’ve played above themselves and probably had to dig pretty deep to do so, although the outstanding form of Ullmark has certainly helped. They’re likely paying the price for that now and they’re flat and lacking motivation. So be it, they’ve earned the right and points cushion to have a slump.
Rough patches happen. Better now than in mid-April. But the question and challenge is how and when do they pull themselves out of it? Some of the coaching and player management for the first time this season seems questionable, and that's arguably not helping. Sort it out. Plenty of teams have peaked too soon, plenty have stumbled but reheated at the right time. The Bruins want to be the latter. They have almost all their chips loaded on this season. This is their opportunity, even if there is a tomorrow it’s not going to be as bright and favorable as today. So they simply have to find their form and legs for when it all counts most.