Boston Bruins Are Circling The Drain
It was another rough night for the Boston Bruins.
© Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images - Boston Bruins Are Circling The DrainWhen a team lacks juice, as Bruins coach Jim Montgomery recently stated about the club, sometimes having a bigger bite could get those juices flowing.
Enter Jeffrey Viel.
The Bruins recalled the feisty forward from Providence Monday in hopes his relentless and tough style of play would inject some life into the Boston lineup. He did not disappoint. The 6-foot-1, 213-pounder used his hands as defibrillators only 14 seconds into his Bruins debut when he dropped the gloves with Columbus Blue Jackets tough guy Mathieu Olivier. It wasn’t much of a bout, but Viel served his role properly and announced his presence with authority.
His bite, however, wasn’t infectious as the Blue Jackets finished with a 5-1 win over the Bruins Monday night at TD Garden. It was another ugly performance, and changes are needed. These lackluster efforts are frustrating fans, and the boobirds were on hand in a big way Monday night when the final buzzer sounded.
“Definitely not happy with the way things are going,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand told reporters after the game. “We need to be much better in a lot of areas. Mistakes are going to happen in the game and we’re just compounding them. It’s not acceptable to continue to have the same mistakes.”
Boston’s compete level is nearly non-existent.
“In this league, you have to have the highest compete every night if you want to be a good team,” added Marchand. “We have it at times, and when we do we’re really good, but then in other moments of the game we think we’re a skilled team and want to play through the middle of the ice and that’s not us. We have to understand what our identity is and play to that. We have yet to do that for a full 60-minute game.”
Historically, the Bruins have always been at their best with strong defense and physicality. This team is lacking both – big time. The likes of Zdeno Chara, Shawn Thornton, Kevan Miller, Terry O’Reilly, or any other true Bruin must be shaking their heads in disbelief. Imagine how Cam Neely feels while watching from level 9 at TD Garden.
“We’re in a place right now where we have to dig ourselves out of a hole before it gets bigger,” Montgomery told NESN’s Andy Brickly after the loss.
General manager Don Sweeney attempted to add a spark with Viel’s promotion, and despite playing only 8:29, he made the most of his limited ice time. He made an impact with a few big body checks and drew a timely penalty late in the second period. However, that power play went for naught after the Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy was called for holding during the team’s man-advantage.
At the time of his recall, Viel played 14 games for the P-Bruins this season with two goals, two assists and a team-leading 39 penalty minutes. Interestingly, when Viel played for the San Jose Sharks, he was on the receiving end of Chara’s final fight in the NHL on Feb. 24, 2022, when he played for the New York Islanders. But the current Bruins need a lot more than Viel to spring back to life.