The Bruins look like a weak team right now, both physically and mentally.
There are a lot of reasons they have been blown out each of the last two nights -- 7-2 by the Islanders on Thursday, 6-2 by the Rangers on Friday -- but a lot of it stems from that: They've been weak.
First, the physical weakness. That's Brandon Carlo losing a battle and John Moore not clearing the front of the net on the Rangers' first goal Friday. It's Urho Vaakanainen getting overpowered by Chris Kreider on the fourth, one night after he also got out-muscled by Anders Lee on an Islanders goal.
It's Moore not being strong enough on his stick, turning the puck over on a breakout, and he and Jakub Zboril then allowing Pavel Buchnevich to walk right between them to the front of the net on the fifth goal. It's David Pastrnak getting knocked down on a pair of Ryan Lindgren hits he didn't seem to anticipate, and it's many other lost battles over these last two games.
Then there's the mental weakness. Not just mental mistakes like Charlie McAvoy making a pair of bad pinches on Thursday or defensive miscommunications leaving Rangers wide open on their second and sixth goals Friday, but the mental weakness of letting problems snowball instead of responding.
It's how a 2-2 game in the third period on Thursday became a 3-2 game on one mistake, then a 4-2 game on another, a 5-2 game on another, and on it went with no answers in sight. It's how that embarrassing third period was followed up with a slow start Friday instead of the kind of fast, strong start you'd normally expect from a good team.
It's how things once again got out of hand quickly on Friday -- from a 2-1 game for most of the second period to a 4-1 game with two goals 12 seconds apart late in the period, and then a 6-1 game with two more goals in the first 3:43 of the third.
It's that inability to stop the bleeding or bounce back that elicited a strong reaction after Friday's game from Carlo, now an alternate captain for the last three games with David Krejci out.
"This doesn't happen here, and it can't go on any further than this," Carlo said. "There's been times in my first couple years where we've had one game like that, but we've always bounced back. This is definitely unacceptable. We have to look in the mirror and move forward, but recognize and learn from the past two days."
There are built-in excuses if the Bruins want to use them. They're a banged-up team for sure. Krejci is out. Three of their six regular defensemen are out, including two of their strongest and most physical in Jeremy Lauzon and Kevan Miller.
Those absences might explain some struggles. They might even explain losing one or both of these games. But they don't explain getting blown out and run off the ice. The Rangers were playing without two of their best players in Artemi Panarin and Jacob Trouba, so they were plenty shorthanded themselves.
As coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game, other players should be champing at the bit to step up and make the most of the opportunity they're now getting. Cassidy has surely challenged them privately, and after Friday's game he also called out his "middle" group in his media Zoom session, including some -- Anders Bjork, Jake DeBrusk, John Moore, Connor Clifton, Chris Wagner and Sean Kuraly -- by name.
"I would challenge the group that's in the middle, I'll call it," Cassidy said. "You know Bergy and their line's going to find their game. But the guys in the middle that have an opportunity that maybe some days go home and say, 'Jeez, I wish I got more minutes or I had a better chance.' The Bjorks, the DeBrusks, Johnny Moores and Cliftons that have been out of the lineup. Guys that have been in the league a little bit. I might be forgetting a guy or two -- Wags and Kuraly -- guys that are going to see more minutes because it's three in four nights, it's back-to-back.
"Put a little onus on themselves to impact the game, whether it's offensively, whether it's physically, whatever. I think that's where the group, when they talk to me about, 'Well, what do I need to do to stay in the lineup or get more minutes?' Tonight's a good example of that, where they can push through a little bit, some younger legs, and impact the game a little bit better, and I didn't think we got that. That's where I look internally at our team and expect better."
Asked if maybe some players are just being asked to do more than they're capable of, Cassidy again refused to accept that as an explanation for these last two games.
"I don't think it's too big," Cassidy said. "They're NHL players, or they've been in the American League. This is the opportunity they want, right? I mean, Vaak's been down there. Zboril's been down there. Cliffy's been on the sidelines. Johnny Moore's been itching to get in. So, here it is. Grab it. Play within yourself. The messaging has to be better from us, obviously, because there's been some breakdowns that I think have been avoidable. Other times they've just been beat by bigger, stronger men."
It's one thing if the Bruins do ultimately prove to be a team that's not good enough to win consistently as currently constructed, or at least as constructed until they get healthier. But they didn't go from being a team that was good enough to have the best record in the NHL to one that can't even keep games competitive just because Krejci, Lauzon and Miller are out.
This is about effort, determination, compete level, and mental and physical strength as much as anything. Carlo is right that these last two games have been unacceptable and that it needs to end now. We'll see if it does Sunday afternoon.
