“We’re going through the motions,’’ said their coach, Claude Julien, whose postgame remarks continue to hit the mark with the accuracy of those long-ago Brett Hull slappers. “Right now, we are playing like a team that should be at the bottom of the standings and not the top of the standings. That’s the reality of it.’’
Now, those are words you won’t hear either in the Bible or on good-times-nothing-but-good-times NESN. Julien wasn’t heated, or seemingly the least bit agitated, but he had his club figured.
“Right now,’’ he said, “we are going through a slump.’’
Exhibit A is the string of nine games now in which the Bruins have failed to have a lead after two periods. Here it is, including last night’s 0-2 vs. Carolina: 2-3 (Senators); 3-3 (Capitals); 3-4 (Flyers); 2-2 (Rangers); 0-1 (Devils); 2-2 (Lightning); 2-2 (Panthers); and 1-1 (Hurricanes).
In fact, they have not carried a lead into the third period since holding a 1-0 edge over the Canadiens on Jan. 12. If nothing else, they’ll always have Montreal.
“We were just really bad,’’ said captain Zdeno Chara, his Bruins now outscored, 31-27, in those nine games. “We didn’t play well. A really bad night for us.’’
The malaise was slightly different last night in that the Bruins rolled up an impressive 22-8 shot lead in the first 20 minutes, all of which translated into a 1-0 deficit (goal by Eric Staal). Their opening periods have been flat and flatter during their slump, but this one had a little pop. No goals, but at least some threats.
However, rather than build from there, use those shots as an emotional springboard, they again fell flat in the second (outshot, 14-5), when the Hurricanes built their lead to 2-0.
“A good number of shots, but not enough traffic to the net,’’ said defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, musing over the first period. “You see those 22 shots, but goalies stop those. Before the second, we were saying, ‘Stay focused, we know what we have to do.’ But we fell apart and we couldn’t pick it up.’’
