It might be time to hit the panic button in Bean Town. The Boston Bruins have lost five straight games and seven of their last ten outings. As Boston continues its downward spiral, dangerously close to the wildcard brink and out of a playoff spot in the NHL standings, captain Brad Marchand has taken it upon himself to deliver a bold memorandum to coach Joe Sacco and the rest of the team after a horrendous 4-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
It seems Boston has grown overconfident, straying from the strategies that fueled their rise through the NHL ranks. Now, as they descend, the team realizes they should never have abandoned what was working in the first place.
Marchand has been around the block for quite some time, he knows as good as anybody what the Bruins’ brand of hockey is, and he is confident that’s the pathway for success.
However, Boston is in tatters at the moment, mired in a five-game losing skid. The captain believes it’s time to hit the red button and shift the current direction the season is headed in. Following a disastrous showing at home against the Oilers, Marchand delivered a blunt statement to interim coach Sacco and the rest of the team.
“With that combination it’s a recipe for disaster and that’s kind of what’s happened,” Marchand warned coach Joe Sacco and his teammates, via Sportskeeda. “We don’t need to score a lot of goals to win games, we need, the way we’ve always tried to win is to be really good defensively and then, you know we need to be comfortable in 2-1, 1-0 games, we’re getting away from that a bit.
“We are definitely forcing the offense at the wrong areas in the wrong times and it’s backfiring and we’re not playing tight enough defensively, so you know .”
Bruins leaders issue harsh messages
The loss to the Oilers was a very harsh blow to the locker room. Boston was hoping to snap its losing streak before it became a burden, but with the embarrassing shuout defeat, it’s only gotten worse.
“I don’t have a good answer. We weren’t even close tonight,” Elias Lindholm stated postgame, via Boston.com. “We were lucky we were down 3-0. A lot of disappointment. Embarrassed. A lot. Frustration. A lot of things.”
“They wanted it more,” Charlie Coyle told reporters. “It’s pretty simple. I think it was kind of a lack of urgency. A lot of things that kind of are embarrassing to say right now. They just wanted it more.”
Fifth shutout
The Bruins were shutout for the fifth time in the season, as the Oilers ragdolled them during their visit to TD Garden. Last season, Boston was only shutout twice, showcasing the big downgrade in the team’s scoring.
The locker room is falling in a pit of frustration, which demands immediate action from the coaching staff. Although Marchand’s statement may help to light a fire under the team, bigger answers are needed. Boston gets back on the ice on January 9 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Florida.