Bruins in search of answers
OTTAWA -- He stood in the hallway outside the visitors' dressing room Saturday night, his eyes hollow, his face tight with emotion. Bruins forward Tom Fitzgerald, an 18-year NHL veteran, was clearly boiling over his team's embarrassing 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators. If he thought punching a hole in the concrete wall would have helped turn this sinking ship around, Fitzgerald -- the ultimate team guy -- would've swung away.
But the Bruins' troubles are so deep and the mix is such a mess, it will take far more than Fitzgerald's public challenge -- however sincere -- to save the 2005-06 campaign.
Former Bruins defenseman Garry Galley, now a radio and TV personality here, nailed it perfectly after the last Boston humiliation (a 5-2 loss to the Senators Nov. 10 in Boston) when he said, ''I certainly think at times they had too many passengers on too many shifts. You can't play like that against the Ottawa Senators. You'll have trouble playing like that in most games against anybody."
Night in and night out, it's been too much of a case of ''All aboard!" and Saturday night was no exception as Boston suffered its eighth loss in nine games. Embattled coach Mike Sullivan was so disturbed that in an unprecedented move, he all but declined comment, saying he'd wait until reviewing the film. Maybe a meltdown by the bench boss was in order, maybe there has been too much shielding of the players. Although it's not Sullivan's style, maybe it's long past time to name names. Maybe something drastic needs to be done before the front office calls former NHL coach Paul Maurice to see if he has an escape clause in his Toronto Marlies contract.
It's the coaches who pay the price for the players' failings, however fair that is. Dumping players, although warranted at times, is just too difficult, especially given the restrictions of a salary cap. And the Bruins do have a history of an itchy trigger finger on firing coaches. Over the last 14 seasons, the Bruins have had eight coaches. Only two -- Brian Sutter and Pat Burns -- have lasted more than two years.
But coaches don't play, and the Bruins are failing on the ice. Fitzgerald called out his teammates to be the professionals they are paid to be.
''Here's the game plan: don't turn the pucks over, play hard on that line," he said. ''You've got to go out and do it. Take charge of your own game, and I think that's where it's missing. It's about time we started looking in the mirror. Challenge yourself. Don't look across the room and say, 'Well, so and so is going to get us a goal,' or 'So and so is going to block a shot,' or 'So and so is going to chip it in.' Start taking it upon ourselves and be professionals here and do what the coach asks us to do."
Goalie Andrew Raycroft, after a tough outing against Philadelphia Friday, tried with everything he had Saturday night. He stopped 36 shots, but it wasn't enough. The Bruins' power play, 0 for its last 11, was 0 for 7 against the Senators. The problem seems to change depending on the game. Sometimes, the defense is awful, sometimes the offense is absent, sometimes the goaltending hasn't been up to snuff. Too often the Bruins take bad penalties or generate more turnovers than Entenmann's. It's as if they plug one hole and three others open up.
Against the Senators, Raycroft was terrific. Everyone not named Raycroft was not even close.
''Razor was unbelievable," said defenseman Nick Boynton. ''He was the only one. He gives us a chance to win games every time he's in there. That's all we can ask of him; he's doing his job. He's the only guy playing right now, I think.
''Each guy just kind of has to do what he does best and work hard. You can't break it down more than we've already done. You've got to work hard every night and you've got to leave it out there. A lot of us have to start doing that, we have to start playing better; we're not getting it done. We have to be better."
Boston's schedule has been brutal -- six games in 10 days before yesterday -- but Boynton said that's no excuse.
''We've taken some good steps, but if it's not done consistently and not done every night . . . ," he said. ''We can live with a loss if, honestly, 20 guys have worked hard and left it out there, but when that's not happening and guys aren't pulling their weight . . . It's just unacceptable and things have to be done about that. You have to have guys working hard and giving 100 percent, and if everybody is not doing that, you're just not going to win in this league. [Ottawa] was definitely one of our poorer efforts. To have an effort like this is not acceptable."
Fitzgerald said maybe they gave the Senators too much respect.
''Maybe we just talk about it too much, what kind of team the Ottawa Senators are, and just freeze up or whatever and just skate and not move," he said. ''It seems like when we were skating we were pinned into a corner and we kind of came out because we weren't going to get pushed into a corner anymore. There's nothing to lose now, just go out and skate and don't turn the puck over. We put ourselves in a stranglehold right away the last two games. We just can't do that."
All was quiet yesterday as the Bruins had a day off. But stay tuned. It's not likely to stay that way.
