By: Tom Calautti | Follow me on Twitter @TCalauttis
The Boston Bruins just can’t seem to find their stride this season. After an emotional overtime victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, the team failed to capitalize on that momentum and fell to the lowly Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 last night. Here’s how it went down:
Korpisalo Shines
If there was a positive from last night’s game, it was the play of newly acquired goaltender Joonas Korpisalo. After spending almost two weeks on the bench, the former Ottawa Senator stopped 17 of 18 shots and gave the Bruins a chance to win on a night when the offense just couldn’t get going.
“I think he gave us an opportunity to win,” said Head Coach Jim Montgomery of his newest goaltender. “He didn’t face many shots, but he faced some high-quality shots. I can think of at least three great saves that gave us the opportunity before it went 1-0.”
Korpisalo made one of the best saves of this young season early in the first period when Philly’s Bobby Brink attempted to bury a cross-crease feed into a wide-open net. Korpisalo made a strong push from left to right, dropped his stick, and flashed his right leg pad to rob Brink with his skate blade. He then stopped old friend Garnet Hathaway on a two-on-one shorthanded bid to keep the game knotted at zero after one.
The lone goal came off the stick of Tyson Foerster at 5:32 of the second period. The Flyers forward was left unguarded at the top of the slot, and he fired a snapshot that beat Korpisalo’s five-hole. Despite holding Philly’s offense to that lone goal, it wasn’t enough as the offense once again stalled on a solid goaltending performance.
Inability to Finish
Unlike some other games this season, where the Bruins were unable to generate any offense, this game saw the black and gold create chances but continuously fail to capitalize. According to Natural Stat Trick, when the final buzzer sounded, shot attempts were 38-33, shots were 23-19, scoring chances were 37-21, and high-danger chances were 11-10, all in favor of Boston.
“We’re not making plays, we’re not doing enough to generate high-danger scoring chances,” said Montgomery. “Whether that’s a will to go to those areas (or) coming out with the right game plan, we’re all culpable for not getting the victory tonight.”
Credit must be given to the Philadelphia Flyers and Head Coach John Tortorella’s signature brand of hard-nosed hockey. The Flyers blocked 28 shots during the game, making it difficult for Boston to get pucks on the net.
Ten games into the season, the Bruins currently rank 24th in the NHL with 15 five-on-five goals. When you factor in the lackluster powerplay and all other situations, Boston is tied for 22nd in the league with 27 goals. Simply put, the offense needs to be better.
Lack of Production Leads to Lack of Goals
Perhaps the biggest sin of last night’s game was Boston’s performance in the third period when they could only muster three shots on goal. Couple that with the overall performance of some of Boston’s key players, and what you have is a plain old scoring issue.
The Bruins only have seven players with two or more goals through ten games. Take out the fourth line (who had another strong game), and Boston only has four skaters with multiple goals. The team’s middle-six skaters, including Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Trent Frederic, Morgan Geekie, Justin Brazeau, and Matt Poitras, have combined for just five goals this season. That total is simply not enough for a playoff team.
The team’s powerplay is arguably an even larger area of concern than its play at even strength. Boston went 0/5 on the man advantage in last night’s contest and failed to convert on a five-on-three opportunity that almost lasted two full minutes.
After the game, Hampus Lindholm told the media, “When you don’t see pucks going in, it gets frustrating. You see guys are holding their sticks a little tighter than we’re used to and it’s (on us) to fight through that.”
Your Boston Bruins have a crisis of confidence right now, and they’ll look to regain some of their swagger Thursday in Raleigh, NC, against the Hurricanes.
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