Sports
October 22
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Or at least that's what they say. But try telling that to the Boston Bruins' management.
After a mediocre 3-4-0 start to the season that has left the Bruins sitting near the bottom of the league in key categories such as goals scored, power play percentage and penalty kill percentage, the Bruins' prospects to repeat as the best team in the Eastern Conference have not looked good so far. To make matters worse, the B's have recently had to place premier forwards Milan Lucic and Marc Savard on the long-term injured reserve, leaving some gaping holes on their already patchy roster.
Not one to just wait and hope for the best, Bruins' general manager Peter Chiarelli has shown that he is willing to do whatever it takes to fill the voids left by his injured stars and jumpstart his squad. On Sunday, Chiarelli dealt struggling winger Chuck Kobasew to the Minnesota Wild for second-round draft picks, and fewer than 48 hours later, he moved again, this time acquiring former first-round draft pick Daniel Paille from the Buffalo Sabres.
The Kobasew trade helped to clear up some cap space and allowed the team to call up talented young forwards Brad Marchand and Vladimir Sobotka from the Bruins' minor league affiliate in Providence. Both youngsters have had outstanding performances with Providence thus far and have been among the Baby Bruins' top three scorers. But what Chiarelli and coach Claude Julien are really looking for from the duo is some added physicality and grit, which the Bruins have certainly been lacking this year.
The hope for Paille was similar. Though Paille has yet to live up to the hype that surrounded him prior to the 2002 draft, he is known as a hard-nosed and gutsy forward who can contribute positively both on the defensive end and on the penalty kill — two things the B's desperately need.
"[Paille has] all the attributes to be a good penalty killer," said Julien at Wednesday's morning skate. "He's got speed, obviously he's got grit, he's done a good job in Buffalo in that regard, and he's a guy that obviously takes pride in killing penalties, so [he] certainly should help us in that area, and we certainly plan on giving him that opportunity to do that with our team."
So when the Bruins took to the ice against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night for the first time since the recent wheeling and dealing, no one knew just how they would react. It didn't take long to find out.
Playing on the first line with Patrice Bergeron and Michael Ryder, Marchand validated his promotion by notching the first point of his NHL career. With the Bruins down 1-0 at the start of the second period after struggling to find any rhythm in the first, Marchand fed Ryder in the slot for a nifty backhand goal just 26 seconds into the middle frame, knotting the score at 1-1. In just his first game, Marchand provided both offensive output and a newfound energy to the floundering Bruins.
"When I first got up here, I was with Bergy and Ryder, and I just would do what I could to bring a little offense to the table," Marchand said. "But the same thing the coaches have been talking about for the past three or four days now is just competing and bringing as much energy to the table as you can. I just wanted to work hard and bring as much energy as I possibly could."
Unfortunately for the Bruins, the Predators struck back fewer than five minutes later, when an outside shot took an awkward bounce off of B's goalie Tim Thomas' shoulder, and Nashville's Colin Wilson was able to poke in the easy goal to retake the lead 2-1.
That marked a turning point for the Bruins, and from there on out, the game's momentum shifted. As Boston's lines started to click, the team was able to mount the consistent offensive effort that it had been lacking throughout the first half of the contest — and the season. Scrapping for pucks in front of the net and upping the pressure on Predators goalie Dan Ellis, the Bruins soon broke through again. Not surprisingly, it was the Bergeron-Ryder-Marchand line that was responsible once more.
After Ellis managed to hold off a flurry of shots, the puck made its way back to Bruins captain Zdeno Chara at the point. Chara fired on net, and Bergeron was able to tip it in past Ellis at 12:38 for his third goal of the season, evening the score at 2-2.
"I think that [in] the first period, we were trying to get a feel for each other, and we were kind of playing on our heels a little bit," Julien said. "It obviously wasn't a good period for us. At some point you have to start playing to win and start having confidence in your team. We seemed to get better. I felt like our lines got a lot better as the game went on. Hopefully that bodes well."
Though no one was to score again for the remainder of the period, the ice had clearly begun to tilt in Boston's favor, and all the new faces were starting to show why they had been brought in.
"I didn't feel that it was the line combinations [that caused the slow start]," Julien said. "I felt that everybody, even players that have been here, [was] playing tentative and playing on their heels. Basically we were playing not to lose. That happens sometimes when you go through these kinds of stretches.
"The confidence level is certainly not where it should be," Julien continued. "We have to start to rebuild and get that confidence. Confidence gives you more energy. I thought that as the game went on we started feeling better about ourselves. I thought that we did a good job at keeping the puck in their end, protecting it and creating some chances later in the game."
That confidence was evident from the time the puck dropped at the start of the third period. The Bruins kept the Predators on the defensive end for the majority of the period and peppered Ellis with quality shots throughout the frame. While to that point it was mainly the first line carrying the offense, everyone began to get in on the action in the final frame.
Nearing the halfway point in the period, Paille made his first major contribution to his new squad when his wraparound attempt produced a juicy rebound that line mate Steve Begin was able to cash in on. Begin's goal would prove to be the game winner thanks to continued offensive pressure by the Bruins and a strong 13-save third period effort by Thomas — including a major last-second stand — that allowed the Bruins to hold on for a much-needed 3-2 victory.
With the new kids on the block already looking comfortable in their roles and the entire squad looking energetic and confident for the first time in a while, it seems that the roster shakeup has served its purpose and that the Bruins are playing solid hockey again.
"It's always a little difficult when new guys are brought in, new faces in the dressing room," Paille said. "It's a lot more difficult on the guys, but we got a great group of guys, I think we are all clicking pretty good. I think tomorrow will be a little better and on Saturday will be even better."
