The Boston Bruins have been one of the best defensive teams in the NHL for quite some time now.
In fact, the last time their goals-against average was anything but stellar was 2007-08, when it was a still-respectable 2.62 (11th best in the league).
Hence, the strong words from defenseman Torey Krug after last night’s 6-4 loss in Montreal -- a defeat that dropped the Bruins’ record to a disappointing 2-4-0.
“That’s not us. We’re a team that prides ourselves on our defense,” said Krug, per CSN New England.
“When we’re spaced out in the defensive zone bad things are going to happen. We didn’t collapse on the net like we normally do, so shame on us for not doing that. We need to get back to our defensive ways in that next game.”
Boston’s next game is Saturday in Buffalo, against a Sabres team that’s scored just seven times in four games. Which is to say, it shouldn’t take a Herculean effort for the B’s to get back to their “defensive ways.”
Then again, the Bruins no longer have the services of solid defenseman Johnny Boychuk, now a member of the undefeated Islanders.
And against the Canadiens, veteran d-man Dennis Seidenberg continued to struggle, finishing a minus-2 and with the worst possession numbers on his team.
It's tough to watch Dennis Seidenberg tonight. Really struggling.
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 17, 2014
Dennis Seidenberg continues to fight it. Might not be right until next month.
— Fluto Shinzawa (@FlutoShinzawa) October 17, 2014
Seidenberg, of course, played just 34 games last season before undergoing knee surgery for a torn ACL/MCL.
At the very least, B’s coach Claude Julien was happy with his players’ effort against the Canadiens.
“We were doing OK,” said Julien, “but with about five minutes left [in the second period] we had some costly mistakes.
“They were things we had talked about, and we had shown before the game. We lost our focus, and because of that we made some really bad mistakes that ended up in the back of our net.”