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Eriksson pointless as he transitions to Bruins’ style

Loui Eriksson

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 3: Loui Eriksson #21 of the Boston Bruins walks to the locker room after warm ups prior to the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the TD Garden on October 3, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

We’re just two games into the Bruins’ campaign, but you would have to stretch to find things to fault Boston for so far. They’ve won their first two contests by comfortable margins and most of their major players have gotten their first point. One notable exception to that is forward Loui Eriksson.

That’s nothing to stress over and it’s also not terribly surprising to Bruins coach Claude Julien.

“You can’t judge or expect miracles in the first few games of the season,” Julien told CSN New England. “You give them a good month to get to know each other and play together, and you hope in that month it progresses. I’ve seen that so far from training camp until right now.”

Eriksson is used to playing an “overload” style where players tend to keep close to each other while carrying the puck through the neutral zone, but the Bruins don’t share that philosophy. So far, Eriksson has had some difficulty breaking those habits.

“I usually adjust to systems pretty well, but just the one thing I did in all my years in Dallas was cutting through the middle and supporting the other winger,” Eriksson said, according to the Boston Herald. “But we’ve been practicing it every day and we’ll get better at it.”

It might be a bit before Eriksson finds his groove in Boston, but he’s still a great forward and Julien seems content to let this transition run its course. That’s certainly easier to do when the team is winning anyways.

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