As opposed to their bizarre five-day breaks that were built into their early-season schedule for some reason, the Bruins now find themselves in the middle of an unplanned 11-day break between games thanks to the latest surge in COVID-19 cases across the league.
The Bruins themselves have 10 players and two staff members in COVID protocol, with Brandon Carlo the latest addition on Tuesday. They have had four games postponed, with their next scheduled game now on Dec. 27 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Bruins sit at 14-10-2 at this (hopefully) mini pause, putting them in eighth place in the Eastern Conference on points percentage. They are well off the pace of Atlantic Division leaders Tampa Bay, Toronto and Florida, but still in the final playoff spot.
Meeting with the media on Tuesday, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy discussed his team’s season to date and how he feels about it going forward.
“A little inconsistency at times,” Cassidy said. “Obviously team defense I think has been solid from Day 1. Special teams I think are good. They can be a little better if we want to get to where we’ve been historically, but still pretty solid. For us, it’s putting the puck in the net. We’ve generated opportunities. We need to generate more high-end opportunities. We started doing a better job with that probably the last -- maybe not the last two games, but the previous eight or 10 before that, getting inside ice.”
Cassidy acknowledged the Bruins aren’t where they want to be in the standings, but pointed to the team’s offseason turnover as one reason they haven’t really found a groove yet. The Bruins signed five free agents this summer, and also have three other players (Taylor Hall, Curtis Lazar and Mike Reilly) who have only been in Boston since last season’s trade deadline.
“I think obviously we’ve typically been at the top of the division battling with Tampa and Toronto for first place. That’s not the case for this year,” Cassidy said. “Obviously that’s where we want to be, but by the same token, we’ve added five new faces, plus faces at the deadline last year that were basically just coming in, getting ready to play. There wasn’t a ton of integration going on then. We’ve had a lot of turnover in our team, so we expected a couple bumps in the road. We just have to iron them out in the second half -- not even the second half, because we’ve only played 26 games.”
Cassidy’s frustration has been clear in the heat of the moment after some tough games this season, but on Tuesday he struck an optimistic tone and said he still believes better days are ahead for the 2021-22 Bruins.
“I believe we’ll be better coming out of this break, once we’re through the COVID isolation periods and quarantines and guys can get back with the group,” he said. “We have to find ways to generate better looks obviously offensively, while still keeping our identity as a good defensive team. That’s where we’re at. That’s our job as coaches to get guys feeling good about their game, and that’s their job as players to buy into what it takes to win those close games and generate a little bit more. So that’s the ask in front of us. I still think we’re a solid team, but we’re not where Tampa is right now. That’s fine. We still have 56 games to get there, and that’s our job to make sure we get better as we go along.”