A sweaty and frustrated Milan Lucic lumbered to his locker stall after the Bruins 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night and decided not to wait for any questions.
The big guy wanted to kick things off with a statement.
It wasnt a good 2014. Im happy its over. Im looking forward to 2015, Lucic said with 90 minutes remaining in the calendar year. Hopefully, it will better than this year.
The Bs could have had a happy New Years Eve. They erased a two-goal deficit and 30-plus minutes of bad hockey to tie the game and earn a point. They easily could have earned the second point with one more goal in the third period or overtime, when they outshot the Leafs, 14-2. But they couldnt get the go-ahead goal, and then Nazem Kadri scored the winner in the fifth round of the shootout to take the 4-3 win at the Garden.
In another season, the Bs might have been able to live with that one point. But they wanted to follow up their excellent performance in the win over Detroit on Monday with something similar. They did not produce it. For a good chunk of the first two periods, it was the same ol, same ol. They got hemmed in their own end. They made unforced errors on the breakout. They iced the puck when they didnt have to.
And when Phil Kessel stepped off the half wall and scored on the power play at 9:45 of the second to give the Leafs a 3-1 lead, it looked like Toronto would walk away with an easy win. The Bs were on their heels and getting booed in their own building.
I think we showed that we are capable of playing well when we set our minds to it. The second half was more of that, said coach Claude Julien. But I keep saying, as a team youve got to be able to come and play 60 minutes of hockey, especially in the positions that were in right now we need to play 60 minutes. Im not saying Im disappointed in the way we came back, because if theres anything that was positive, it was that. I thought we did a great job of getting back into the game, tying it up, those are great things that we can talk about.
The Bs got back in the game by getting greasy, scoring a pair of goals late in the second by getting some pucks to the net along with some push toward the crease.
First, David Krejci got the Bs to within a goal when he fired the puck from a bad angle but, with Cody Franson trying to defend Lucic at the crease, it went off the defenseman and in at 15:28.
Then Torey Krug tied it off a rush at 17:31. With Krejci going to the net, Krug tried to get it to him but it went off defenseman Korbinian Holzer and then Leo Komarov and into the net.
The Bs dominated the third period and overtime. Seth Griffith had great chances but couldnt convert tough passes to score into open nets.
It was a game in which some liberal officiating allowed both teams to escape infractions much to the betterment of the entertainment level but Julien felt Brad Marchand was the victim of an obvious trip. And with his team dead last in drawing penalties this year, a place they often inhabit even in years theyve been dominant, Julien wasnt going to let it slide.
I think it was a trip, I think it was pretty obvious to everybody, he said. Again, its getting frustrating to say the least. You see a lot of things out there, or even the hook I gotta look at it again on Lucic trying to go to the net there in the second period. Were not getting the benefit of the doubt, thats for sure.
So where do the Bruins go from here? After 38 games, its hard to think this group can string seven or eight wins together and get comfortably back in the playoff structure.
But Lucic, ever impassioned, said he and his teammates cannot be waiting for general manager Peter Chiarelli to make a move to fix everything.
You cant wait for that. You cant, said Lucic. I mean, I dont think guys are. I hope that guys arent. I hope that were not waiting around for some savior to come in and help this team be the team that it should be because it hasnt happened in the past. . . . We have to take it upon ourselves, me especially with how things have gone for myself this season, I have to step up my game and produce the way that I can. And if I can start getting that going, hopefully itll help the team go in the right direction.
Source: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/bruins_nhl/boston_bruins/2014/12/not_a_happy_new_year
