Desperate times
Offense isn't all that ails Bruins
WILMINGTON - Their season already in peril, the Bruins yesterday found out that top center Marc Savard (bad back) and defenseman Andrew Ference (unspecified leg injury) won't be able to suit up tonight to face the Maple Leafs in Toronto.
In other words, the ugly freefall of 2007-08 continues, and unless there is some Alan Greenspan-like quick-fix epoxy out there, nothing will prevent the Bruins from crashing through the floor of the Eastern Conference standings and right out of the playoff picture in the final two weeks of the regular season.
"All these guys are making good strides," coach Claude Julien said yesterday, noting the improving health of Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Alberts, and Manny Fernandez. "I just wish it was a month earlier."
Other than that, there is little for Julien to say. The point comes when the reality of the injury list is both stark and undeniable, no matter how simplified, defense-oriented, paint-by-number the game plan, or how willing the tired combatants. No Bergeron. No Alberts. No Fernandez. And now no Savard or Ference.
Julien has charge of a team that cannot buy a goal and, even worse, lacks the brawn and tenacity to set up in the offensive end for at least a chance of scoring. This is a club that has collapsed at its weakest points - the right and left wings, and many nights, at center.
"There is presence," agreed Julien, "and then there is presence. Sometimes you're there, but are you there and in a good enough position to make something happen? There is a price to pay, and our biggest challenge is, how much are we willing to pay?"
The numbers are as telling and desperate as Hillary Clinton's delegate totals. The Bruins have gone 2-5-4 in their last 11 games, mustering but 16 goals. They also have gone a putrid 4 for 56 (7.1 percent) on the power play over the last dozen games. One of the league's top five or six power plays much of the season, as of yesterday they ranked 19th. Of the 16 teams that qualified for the playoffs as of yesterday morning, only the Bruins remained upside-down in goal production (193 for, 209 against).
Other than tinkering here or there with line combinations - such as moving rookie David Krejci into Savard's slot spot between Marco Sturm and Chuck Kobasew at yesterday's workout - the coaching staff has been unwilling to try new wrinkles on the man-advantage. No ingenuity. No creativeness. And still, no goals.
Savard's absence tonight on the first-unit power play will create a different look, by necessity. But the truth is, substantive changes on the power play have been necessary for the better part of two weeks, and the Bruins have come out with the same-ol'-same-ol' approach. The Blues, with the worst power play in the league, have clicked at a moribund 13.6 percent this year. For a dozen games, the Bruins have been nearly twice as bad. Yet, no tweaks, and no goals.
Glen Murray's production has been particularly ossifying. The club's one potential sniper, he has gone 0-0 -0 in his last 11 and has but one goal in his last 14 games - numbers that rival Andrei "The Empty Tank" Kovalenko. Julien finally saw enough of the zeroes to drop Murray off both the top line and the first power-play unit in recent games.
Asked after yesterday's practice if he were hindered by any injury, the 35-year-old Murray said he felt fine.
"I'm OK. Obviously, I want to score, but it's not going in," he said. "I'm trying. I've been shooting more in practice the last week or so, and some were going in today, off bodies and ricochets and stuff.
"All I can do is keep shooting, keep working. It's easy to get down or frustrated, and blame other things, but I can't do that. I just have to keep shooting."
Murray is hardly alone in his stultifying inefficiency. But as the $4.15-million-a-year would-be sniper, he is the most glaring inefficiency. He'll likely skate tonight on a line with rookies Milan Lucic and Vladimir Sobotka. In the 2-5-4 freefall, that threesome has totaled but 0-2 -2, with Sobotka not in the lineup for any of the last three games.
Meanwhile, with the Bruins occupying the eighth and final playoff spot in the East, the Capitals are but 2 points in arrears, albeit with the Bruins holding a game in hand. By tonight, the two could be deadlocked in points, with the revitalized Caps (7-3-0 in their last 10) emboldened by sure-shot MVP Alexander Ovechkin and his league-leading 60 goals and 106 points. The Caps have traction, while the Bruins appear ready to be placed in traction.
It appears the Caps will blitz by the bottom of the Eastern pack, which could leave the Bruins' fate decided by how they fare in relation to the Flyers the rest of the way. The Broad Street Bullies, with one more game played (76) than the Bruins, hold a 2-point edge in the standings, and they have a touch more momentum (5-3-2 in their last 10).
"It's not like it's a shock to the system," said Julien, maintaining the standard brave coach's countenance. "It's not like we're saying, 'Wow, look what we're up against!' "
They don't have to say it, because it's there for everyone to see.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com
