BUFFALO - The Bruins have a pretty good grasp of defense, no longer skating helter-skelter through all three zones looking like so many distant, dismal sons of the Ice Follies that turned last season into a laugh track.
But when it comes to offense, or simply sustaining pressure on the net . . .
"We just can't put that little black thing in the net," said veteran winger Glen Murray. "No doubt, it's frustrating."
The lack of scoring once again brought the Bruins asunder last night at
"All losses are frustrating in their own way," said Boston netminder Tim Thomas, who was backed by Marc Savard's goal in the first period and nursed that until an Ales Kotalik power-play strike evened it in the second. "But it's important for us not to get too far down . . . we're doing a lot of things right, but just not enough right now."
It was the Bruins' second straight overtime loss, on the heels of Sunday's 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Senators in a shootout. They have gone three straight without a win (0-1-2), their longest drought of this young season. They put 26 shots on Ryan Miller, half of those in the third period, when they recovered from a second-period dip in which they once more seemed to forget one of the game's fundamentals - one must at least shoot if there is any chance of "that little black thing" finding its way into the 24-square-foot opening.
"The last three games, yes, it's been frustrating," said coach Claude Julien, noting his club's meager total of four goals in that span. "It's hard for us to score goals. We hit a couple of posts tonight - so you hope sooner or later one of those goes in, and that gets it going. Sometimes you just need to shoot more to get the confidence going."
Part of the Bruins' undoing of late has been their powerless power play. They were blanked (0 for 3) by the Sabres and have now gone 0 for 7 in their last three games. The fact they have drawn only seven penalties in itself reflects they aren't moving enough, with or without the puck, for other clubs to foul them. Some of that, too, is inconsistent officiating, which always gets underscored in times such as these. Referees Chris Lee and Mike Leggo were inconsistent from start to finish.
"The power play's got to get better," said Julien. "It's the same thing . . . it's just hard for us to get power plays now."
