The 2011-12 season has not started on a promising note for the Boston Bruins.
The B’s looked painfully mediocre in last week’s season-opener against Philadelphia, then bounced back with a strong showing against Tampa Bay over the weekend.
Their encore, to end a three-game homestand? Today’s flat, 1-0 defeat against the Colorado Avalanche.
It’s time to forget that Stanley Cup celebration, guys. There’s a reason no NHL champion has repeated in years: Defending is a whole lot harder than winning it in the first place.
The B’s, unfortunately, are starting to find that out.
“We got outworked by a team that was a lot more hungry than we were
tonight,” coach Claude Julien said. “And right from the get-go, as soon as they got that power play,
it gave them some momentum and then they just never looked back. And
throughout the game I felt our team was second on the puck. We’re losing
the races, and also whenever we got there and got in to battle, they
certainly were a lot hungrier than we were.”
That’s not to say there weren’t positives. The PK was solid, and Tuukka Rask was exceptional in his season debut. Too bad Boston couldn’t do anything in front of him.
“We want to help him a lot more than he does,” forward Patrice Bergeron said of Rask. “He’s helping us every night
he steps in. Again, tonight he made huge saves and he’s the reason why
we lost 1-0.”
