How many ways can you say flail?
Is it just a coincidence it rhymes with fail?
Putting aside for the moment the question of who is going to stop goals for the Bruins, the question remains: Who's going to score goals for this suddenly sour team? After plowing steadily toward a playoff spot with a recent six-game winning streak, the Bruins came apart again at the seams last night against Toronto. The Maple Leafs found room to score eight goals, four on the power play, and the Bruins struggled to get two. It was the second time this week the Bruins have gone to pieces, the other a 10-2 pasting at Washington Monday.
"I don't think we've played this bad all year and the timing certainly isn't good," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "We have to come to grips with it and recoup and start going back in the right direction. Sometimes it's about taking care of business and not trying to fix everything at once.
"It's the whole package - we don't get the big saves, we don't get the big plays, we're out of synch, and the power play wasn't that much better. There's absolutely nothing you can really give our team credit for tonight."
It wasn't obvious immediately. The Bruins were moving the puck well against Toronto and Peter Schaefer gave them a 1-0 lead at 11:40 of the first period. But Jason Blake swept in a power-play rebound to tie it 3:02 later.
"We came out with some fire, and it seemed to dwindle," said Marc Savard, the team's leading scorer (74 points), now pointless in two games. "It's a tough time right now. We're going through a little drought here. We've just got to get out of it together.
"It's not one guy that was bad tonight, it was 20 guys," Savard added. "Our top guys were like everybody: No one really played well. Our best players haven't been our best players. We have to get back to scoring goals. I've got to score goals, even though I'm a passer, I'll take a lot of onus here. We've got to get Muzz [Glen Murray] going, too, and Axie [P.J. Axelsson], and then hopefully, it will spring. That's usually how it happens, when top guys get going."
The score was still 1-1 when the second period began, but while Toronto began popping in goals from the right, from the left, and from just about everywhere, the Bruins couldn't uncover their offense. Half the period was gone before they got a shot at Maple Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala. Marco Sturm, leading the team with 23 goals but also pointless in two games, wasn't even happy about the team's start.
"[The first] was not a good period," he said. "We were lucky."
Sturm, wearing the same shellshocked expression as Savard, twisted a silver ring on his finger and winced. "Obviously, you have two games like this in one week, it's not good, especially at this time," said Sturm. "It should be playoff hockey. It's not about the other teams, it's all about us right now. Mentally, we're not sharp."
The Bruins have 15 games to play in the regular season, all against Eastern Conference teams. The race has a full card: Sixth place can become ninth place and out of the playoffs in two games.
"We've got to look forward," said Sturm. "There's no time to hang our heads."
How far back can they fall?
"We don't have any answers," said Savard. "We've got to go back to the drawing board. The good thing is, it's not too late. We've got a lot of time here. We've got to get going right away. As tough as these games are to erase in your mind, that's what we've got to look to do, and get some positives back in the room. We've got to get some players some jam. Everybody's got to come on board and start working together again."
"When you struggle, you don't get the breaks," said Axelsson. "You get the breaks when you're playing well. You have to find ways to get the breaks."
Barbara Matson can be reached at matson@globe.com.
