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February 4, 2010 E-MAIL PRINT

Bruins shot down again by Habs

by Douglas Flynn/

BOSTON – The Bruins didn’t think things could possibly get worse. They felt sure there was no conceivable way they could become even more snake-bit. They were certain they couldn’t suffer a tougher loss than they did on Tuesday when they fell to Washington despite dominating most of the game.

Then in a 39-second span in the second period all those certainties went out the window. It that blink of an eye the Bruins saw a 2-0 lead evaporate as Montreal struck for a pair of quick tallies. And not even a 47-25 edge in shots could net the Bruins a much-needed victory, as the Canadiens scored the only goal in the shootout to steal a 3-2 victory and send Boston to its ninth straight loss.

“I don’t know (whether) to cry or laugh here,” said Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. “I think we pretty much dominated the whole game and had good chances. … I wanted to win so bad, to make that save (in the shootout), but he happened to beat me there and we took the loss. At least we got the point.”

Rask made 23 saves and stopped the first two shooters – Tomas Plekanec and Scott Gomez – in the shootout, but he couldn’t come up with Brian Gionta’s backhander in the final round of the shootout.

The Bruins still had a chance, as Claude Julien had opted to shoot second in the shootout in a change from past shootouts. The Bruins had elected to shoot first in all six previous shootouts at home this year, though Julien inexplicably denied that fact as he was even more defensive and testy than usual in his post-game press conference.

Maybe Julien would have been in a better mood if Marc Savard had been able to convert the final shot of the shootout, but his attempt on a forehand drag move was denied by Jaroslav Halak, who improved to 7-0 this year when facing 40 or more shots.

“I guess (Julien) wanted to try something different,” said Savard of switching up the shootout. “I mean why not? We tried our best again and we’ve just got to keep trying to plug away.

“It’s tough,” added Savard of the losing streak. “It’s been tough on the guys. We’re outshooting teams by 15-20 shots and not getting results. All we can do is try to stick with it. Keep doing what we’re doing and eventually it’s got to go in. We hope.”

The Bruins did do everything a team is supposed to do to snap out of a slump. They controlled play early, jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Mark Recchi tipped in a Dennis Wideman shot on the power play. And they extended that lead when Blake Wheeler chipped in a rebound of a David Krejci shot 5:25 into the second.

The Bruins could see the light at the end of the long tunnel they’ve been descending into for the past month. Little did they know that light was on the train about to run them over.

Ex-Bruin Glen Metropolit banged in a rebound for a power-play goal with Matt Hunwick off for hooking and Roman Hamrlik fired in a shot through a screen 39 seconds later to tie the game in the closing minutes of the second and the Bruins never led again.

Over the last two games, the Bruins have put 89 shots on goal and come away with just three goals.

“We want to get shots on net,” said Recchi, who had a game-high seven of those shots. “We want to crash the net. We want to get some ugly goals. My goal was a tip. Kreech shoots the puck and Wheels gets the rebound (for the other goal). We’re making a conscious effort of doing that.”

While the Bruins haven’t seen any fruits for their labors of late, Recchi insists they can’t change their approach. They have to continue to pour on the shots in the hope that they eventually will start going in.

“The guys are trying to stay positive here and we’re going to stay positive and stick together through this,” said Recchi. “We’ve outplayed these last two teams significantly and we have to take the positives from that. … We’ve got 27 playoff games left. If we get on a good roll and get confident and start really believing in ourselves we can get on a good roll and get ourselves in a (playoff) spot.”

A playoff spot is looking less and less likely as these games slip away, but the Bruins are just three points out of the final playoff position. Still, with four teams to pass to get there, the Bruins can’t afford to keep coming up empty on effort like this.

Douglas Flynn can be reached at dflynn@hockeyjournal.com.