The Boston Bruins have been the class of the Eastern Conference for much of the 2023-24 campaign. No, this isn’t close to the team that broke all kinds of NHL records last season, but the B’s have been Stanley Cup contenders all year long.
Things have started to fall off the rails lately in Beantown, though. Uncharacteristically, Boston has lost three games in a row and seven of 10 to fall to 34-12-14. They’ve gone past regulation in each of their past six, and lost four of them, a franchise record that nobody will be too happy about in Massachusetts.
Those problems were exacerbated by a late collapse against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night; the Bruins led 2-0 in the third but eventually lost 3-2 in overtime. That was followed up by another blown lead against the Seattle Kraken, a 4-3 shootout defeat at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.
Ahead of the Mar. 8 NHL Trade Deadline, president Cam Neely made it clear the roster needs to get better for the stretch run.
“That’s a big list,” Neely told The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa about his trade deadline plan. “That’s a big wish, that one, based on where we’re at. But we’ll try to figure something out that’s going to give us opportunities to improve upon, for sure. Another stiff defender would be good. And you could always use help on offense.”
Special teams hindering Bruins lately
After Monday’s loss, the Bruins head back to TD Garden 1-0-3 on the road trip. The team hasn’t practiced since Feb. 18, and that is probably contributing to the poor powerplay and penalty killing numbers the squad is putting up as of late.
“Obviously our PK’s slipped a little here. Power play, same thing,” Neely continued. “And just putting games away. But that’s where the past few games, our power play could have won us hockey games. We’re better than we’ve showed as far as special teams go. So I’m not as hugely concerned about it. Because we showed earlier in the season we did a good job in both those areas. But it’s something we need to improve upon. Problem is, unfortunately, finding practice time.”
Another problem is the team’s lack of draft capital after going all-in to acquire Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway last year. They are also strapped tight to the cap, with barely any space to work with for the rest of the season.
“Our cupboards are a little thin considering what we did last year and in previous years,” asserted Neely. “So something really has to make sense for us. There’s other areas we can improve upon, whether it’s adding a little bit more grit at the bottom part of our lineup.”
Regardless of what happens on Mar. 8, it’s on the roster as currently constructed to get out of the slump and start playing like one of the top teams in the National Hockey League again.
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