Morning Skate: Woof

You had a couple of reasons to feel good heading into last night’s Bruins-Islanders game.

The B’s won on Saturday, gave a good Rangers team a fight while shorthanded Tuesday, and they were getting their captain back.

Good times!

And then...not so much.

Last night’s loss was one of those games that we’ve seen far too many times this season: sloppy, sleepwalking, listless, etc.

Not great for a team that had higher aspirations than “make the playoffs” coming into this season.

Anyways, it seems like this is what the Bruins are nowadays.

Gone are the days where you had a pretty good idea what you were going to get on a nightly basis, namely strong 5v5 play and responsible decisions with the puck.

Instead, it’s a bit of a grab back: great efforts mixed with so-so efforts mixed with horrible efforts, and everything in between.

I guess it keeps things interesting, right?

Things don’t need to be all doom and gloom, as the Bruins are virtually a lock for the playoffs, where anything can happen.

There’s also plenty of time between now and then for things to start clicking (or to bring in reinforcements).

For now, however, it isn’t exactly fun to watch.

Today’s discussion topic

Was it me, or was the atmosphere in the Isles’ arena decidedly muted last night? Could have been NESN’s in-arena mic or crowd noise setting, but it was quiet.