Big, Bad Bruins

BIG, BAD BRUINS

The Boston Bruins find themselves 2-1 down going into tonight's tie against the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden. A crazy penalty late in the 3rd period and subsequent overtime loss in the first game at the Garden on Monday leaving them down but certainly not out.

So what in my opinion do the Bruins need to do to win?......

The forecheck. They need to impose themselves early and I mean to the point of taking a penalty or two, their collective penalty kill has been so, so strong as of late. Now I know these are all professional skaters and in the playoffs hard hits are to be expected, but I mean put these guys repeatedly on their backsides, make it so that they don't want to receive the puck! Especially Erik Karlsson this man needs to be stopped as a defenceman his ability to jump up into attack is immense and quite possibly the best part of his game.

Let the boys be creative. We have seen flashes of brilliance in some of David krejci’s play but unfortunately that has been about it. As a team they seem to scared to make a mistake but brilliance only comes when you play without fear. Aside a minute or so’s stint in the second period of Monday's game Brad Marchand has been non existent, the Bergeron/Marchand line in general need to play with the freedom to express themselves. Marchand needs to be that annoying little gnat on the ice we all know he can be, get under their skin and irritate them into submission. If Marchand plays like that then Bergeron will be able to do what we all know he can!

Defense. Now this is a more difficult part to write. Considering the B’s are so depleted in this area of the game they have been more than admirable in 5-5 and 4-4 play. And immense in 5-4 short handed situations. A lot of the credit goes to one man thrown into the fire of playoff hockey without even a regular season game in the nhl. I talk of course of Charlie McAvoy, quite simply put old head on young shoulders he does the defensive part of his game so solidly and is beginning to show the ability to jump up into offensive situations. Now this maybe a bit controversial! Zdeno Chara needs to retire or be retired. Now don't get me wrong I love the man mountain that is Chara but Quite simply put and not just in the playoffs but all this season he has shown that age is catching up with him, hockey is a young man's game and he is no longer a young man. He has become more reliant on his defensive partners to cover for his pace (or lack thereof). No surprise then that his defensive partner for the playoff has been McAvoy, a lad that wasn’t even born when Chara started playing in the NHL.

To sum up, Boston need to be the feared team that they have always been. They need to be the BIG, BAD BRUINS!