After a really emotional ceremony before the game -- seriously, thanks Philly, that was great -- the Bruins came out fairly decently for the first period. After that though...yikes. It's been the same old story for the last few weeks; but 20-minute efforts don't win hockey games. At least the Canadiens are struggling too, so the Bruins are still in second place.
Pluses:
+ Hey, Carl Soderberg's been looking better every game!
+ Soderberg and Jaromir Jagr together....excellent. They were by far the team's best line in the first period, along with Chris Kelly. Sadly, they couldn't keep it up for the full 60.
+ Hey, how about that goal by Wade Redden!
+ Nice goal by David Krejci as well. Krejci and Milan Lucic both looked decent out there tonight -- whether it's a case of his linemates making Lucic better or Lucic just moving his feet more, that definitely looked better.
+ We have a real third line, yay?
Minuses:
- EVERYTHING ELSE
- Seriously I know Khudobin's just the backup and he's not supposed to be as great as Tuukka Rask but what in the hell was with allowing that dribbler on the back pass by Zdeno Chara? That was not on Chara at all -- that was entirely a failure by Khudobin to track down the puck and keep it moving OUT of the net. I did like Claude's decision to pull him for about a period and put Rask in -- presumably to calm Khudobin down, and then put him back out there when the game got ridiculously away from the Bruins.
- What is a defense. the Bruins' inability to clear the zone tonight bit them in the butt hard and often.
- The Bruins' inability on the other end of the ice to get anything done is more frustrating with every game. Someone needs to get it into their heads: DUMP AND CHASE IS STUPID. Additionally, why are you like this, power play - the Bruins had four minutes of PP time to end a period and did nothing with it, as per usual.
I don't know, yell about other problems in the comments. How frustrating. Let's just get through this week and get to the playoffs and just...fuck this season already.