Bruins score just once on 43 shots

After a four game stretch in which the Boston Bruins scored only three goals, the thought on everyone’s mind at the TD Garden last night was whether or not the Bruins could turn around their recent offensive woes. Facing a team that had allowed 18 goals in its last four games in the Montreal Canadiens, the hope was that Thursday would finally be that night.

The offensive result? A single goal and a 2-1 shootout loss. Perhaps even worse, it took 59 minutes and eight seconds for the B’s to finally find the back of the net.

Talk about torture for a Bruins fanbase that saw these Bruins score 17 goals in a sweep of the Canadiens in last year’s Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Although a major roster reformation in the offseason meant the Habs that the Bs played last night are not the same Habs of yesteryear, there are still some similarities, namely goalie Carey Price.

Price has struggled in net all year for Montreal, going 2-6-0 with a 3.63 goals-against-average and a .883 save percentage.

But on Thursday night, the Boston offense made Price look like vintage Patrick Roy, failing to score on 42 of its 43 shots on the night.

Of course, when any team puts up shot totals like that, nobody can say that the offensive woes stem from a lack of trying. In fact, the Bruins’ 43 shots were their most this season and their most dating all the way back to Feb. 22 of last season.

To some, that stat, combined with the one point the Bruins gained in the standings, may show a light of hope.

To the Bruins? Well, it depends on whom you ask.

‘Progress is winning hockey games,’ Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. ‘For however many games, we’ve been answering the same questions. We threw 46 shots on net and it boils down to being able to finish around the net.’

‘It’s one step forward,’ Patrice Bergeron, B’s alternate captain and lone goal scorer on the night said. ‘We’ll take the one point, but ideally, you want to get two points out of a game.’

So, with the current lines not producing, can we expect any changes in the line chart as the B’s continue on in the last three of their four game home stand? Not according to the man who would make those decisions.

‘The bottom line is we’re trying,’ Julien said. ‘Whether people believe it or not, like it or not, we’re trying. I’m going to stick behind this group, and I’ll take whatever heat has to come my way.’

And heat certainly will come the Bruins’ way this weekend as the Northeast Division-leading Buffalo Sabres come to town on Saturday. Buffalo’s two losses are the least in the Eastern Conference on the young season.

However, perhaps more daunting than anything in the wins-and-losses columns for the Bruins will be Sabres’ goalie Ryan Miller.

Miller has been absolutely stellar for Buffalo between the pipes, sporting a .941 save percentage and scary low 1.69 GAA, good enough for first and second in the NHL, respectively. He has even garnered enough attention nationally to be strongly considered for the start in net for the U.S. Olympic team in Vancouver, British Columbia this winter, potentially alongside Bruins goalie and reigning Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas.

To beat Miller, the B’s will have to get better offensively, and in order to do that, they will need to focus on the positives ‘-‘- something Bergeron is already doing.

‘We can build off our resilience,’ Bergeron said. ‘We never stopped going to the net, and we created turnovers for them that we could then build off.’

But in the game of hockey, resiliency, crashing the net and even just shooting on net can only get a team so far. If the Bruins are going to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, they need to score goals.
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