No Time For A Breakdown

I'm sure if you ask any Bruins fan, this isn't how this series was supposed to go. A little less than a half hour ago, the Bruins dropped Game 3 to the Carolina Hurricanes to fall into a 1-2 deficit in the best of 7 series. As Boston's frustration grows like a Tim Thomas playoff beard, we're left asking "What is happening?", or more like "What isn't happening?".

Surely, the Bruins have the edge on the 'Canes in the defensive department, right? Captain Zdeno Chara and Aaron Ward have been an excellent pairing, playing considerably well against the Eric Staal line. However, they can't be out there 60 minutes every game. Steve Montador, a trade deadline pick-up obtained from Anaheim for Petteri Nokelainen has looked absolutely lost out there. He's repeatedly making mistakes in his own zone, misses passes and simply not making passes. Tonight, was perhaps Monty's best example of his playoff incompetence.

In the closing minutes of the 2nd period, the Hurricanes were on a rush up the ice when Steve Montador threw himself down to his knees in an attempt to stop Sergei Samsonov. Not only did this attempt fail, but it actually gave Samsonov an even better shot option. First off Steve, you're not a goalie, you're a defensemen; dropping into the butterfly isn't going to help you. The puck crossed the red line past Tim Thomas and the Hurricanes were up 2-1. As Bruins fans cry out for Shane Hnidy to step in for Montador, it appears they'll get their wish. In a bittersweet way however, as Andrew Ference left the game and did not return which likely means the Steve "The Trainwreck" Montador will remain in the line-up.

It's possible that Aaron Ward said it best during an intermission interview during Game 2 from the Bruins bench, "We're playing pretty, not gritty..and that's not us.". Truer words were never spoken, the Bruins aren't playing as the same grit, claw your way to victory type of team that we've become accustomed to since the season's first game. There's no doubting that Cam Ward is a spectacular goalie, but that doesn't mean every shot taken needs to be a dangle stick attempt from an NHL09 video game. David Krejci, Michael Ryder and Phil Kessel, all key components in the Bruins 4 game sweep of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1st round have all been making attempts at the highlight reel goals rather than the quick wrist shots and passes we've come to expect from them.

An accurate judgement of the Bruins fanciness is the fact that the Bruins have out shot the Hurricanes just 3 out of the 10 periods of play so far. The lack of offensive pressure is inexcusable, as the Bruins continue to sputter on the powerplay as with their 0-2 performance they fall to 0-9 on the powerplay in the series. In fact, they've been terrible in all aspects of their special teams, giving up 1 and a half (I count the fact that it needed to be reviewed in Game 2 as a half goal, but that's a discussion for another day) is disheartening to any team.

The Bruins and 'Canes don't do battle again until Friday night, but I'll be shocked if we don't see some changes for Game 4. It's time for Blake Wheeler to watch the game from the press box as he's shown a lack of consistent effort, especially for someone logging 2nd line forward minutes. It's also a good time to reunite the Axelsson-Savard-Kessel line and drop Lucic down to the Krejci line with Michael Ryder. The 3rd line of Recchi-Bergeron-Kobasew has been the hardest working line for the Bruins throughout the 7 playoff games, therefore there's no need to break up this group. With Axelsson onto the 1st line, you simply slide Bitz onto the 4th line with veteran face-off man Stephane Yelle and the bruising Shawn Thornton.

The pressure's all on Boston heading into Game 4, the Hurricanes have the advantage of 18,000 Caniacs sure to make life difficult for the Boston Bruins and the lead in the series. The keys to a Bruins win are recognizing the Hurricanes offensive weapons not named Eric Staal; Jussi Jokinen is quietly having a spectacular postseason full of clutch goals and playmaking. Also, send a message to Carolina that this is not going to be a walk in the park. Don't let them run into Thomas, don't even let them get near Thomas. They've taken enough liberties on the Vezina favorite, and for Bobby Orr's sake, play 60 minutes of hockey.