Bruins Beat: Eriksson Leads Booming Offense

First off I would like to apologize for this post being late a few days but I personally wanted to wait for the Bruins five game home stand to end on Saturday so as to deliver a more informed recap of the five games the Bruins played on home ice the past week and a half. Because I will be going over five games in this one post I won’t so much be doing a recap of each game but instead a more general recap of the teams play over the course of the five games. Without further ado, let us begin.
I ended off last post by mentioning the games upcoming for Boston, specifically how the B's would be starting their home stand against one of the statistically worse teams in the league, the Colorado Avalanche. Unfortunately the Bruins must have looked too deeply into the standings and believed a minimal effort would be enough to down the lowly Avalanche, and it almost seemed like they might have been right as they jumped off to an early 2-0 lead within the opening six minutes of the game off goals by Chara and Spooner. Those first 6 minutes were the only quality hockey the Bruins played that game however and with each passing minute looked slower, lazier and overall more apathetic then the previous minute. The Bruins would allow 3 unanswered goals in the next 2 periods and went on to lose to the Avs 3-2. An extremely disappointing game that left Bruins fans and head coach Claude Julien displeased with the quality of effort shown by the Bruins squad, as well as a lack of consistency that has plagued them the whole season. Continuing the theme of inconsistency the Bruins came out two nights later firing at all cylinders and were able to take down fellow Atlantic Division contender the Detroit Red Wings with a score of 3-1. All 3 of Boston' s goals came in the second period, coming off the sticks of Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug and David Krejci who at this point in the schedule lead the Bruins in points as well as being ranked as one of the top 10 point producing forwards in the league. Couple this offensive surge with a solid effort from Tuukka Rask allowing only one power play goal and the Bruins come away with a solid W to end the week.
The Bruins had two days off between the game against Detroit and their game against San Jose and one of their most disappointing games of the season. The Bruins came out of the first period tied after allowing a goal in the opening two minutes which seemed like a victory within itself as they were heavily out pressured and outworked. The following period was nothing short of disastrous as the Bruins undisciplined and sloppy play lead to 3 minor penalties within a span of 4 minutes. These penalties resulted in 3 San Jose goals and left the Bruins floundering and down 5-3 after 2 periods. They would add one goal in the final ten minutes but were unable to equalize and fell to a Sharks team that has also struggled this season with playing consistent and disciplined hockey (although as I write this the Sharks have beaten the Blue Jackets to extend their winning streak to six games.) Of course, as has somewhat become a tradition or a law of this year’s Bruins, the next game against a much more powerful and ferocious Minnesota Wild team was leagues better in the effort department as well as the defense aspect of the game and the Bruins were able to outwork the Wild on their way to a 4-2 architected offensively by Loui Eriksson’s 3 goals which makes him the top scorer for the Bruins highly ranked offense as of this moment. To cap off the home stand the Bruins were finally able to put 2 wins together and blanked the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 with goals coming late in the third from Chara and Marchand. Overall, the Bruins had a good home stand, winning 3 of 5 and staying in the race for playoff contention which heats up every year around the whole league come American Thanksgiving. It was disappointing that the two teams the Bruins lost to seemed to be the most exploitable, which deepens my concern for the Bruins as they continue to play with inconsistent effort on a night to night basis. The overwhelming positive for this home stand was Kevan “Worse Than Stalin and Hitler Combined” Miller was injured with an upper body injury and will be out for the next four or five games. Seeing as Miller has played like nothing short of hot garbage fills me with hope that during his injury one of our young defenseman will be called upon to (permanently) fill his spot in the roster and allow him to (permanently) rest and recover.