The Bruins Are Being Thrown the Punch

It may only be three games in, but the Boston Bruins are certainly taking the beating from teams alike, and coach Claude Julien is not impressed with how things have been going so far for the Bruins.

That Monday afternoon affair with the Avalanche, with resulted in a 1-0 loss, is my best description of "flat play." Tuukka Rask made 35 saves on the day, but the offense gave no help to them in trying to get pucks past Simeon Varlamov.

That team's effort is certainly not fitting well with coach Claude Julien. "I don't think I can stand here and say I was. We got outworked by a team that was a lot more hungry than we were. Right from the get-go, as soon as they got that power play, it gave them some momentum and then they just never looked back. Throughout the game, I felt our team was second on the puck. We're losing the races, and whenever we got there and got into battle, they certainly were a lot hungrier than we were," he told reporters.

It is agreed that the Avs are an improving team, but the Bruins are a team that is already flying into the dumps after winning the Stanley Cup last season. The top line of Milan Lucic, David Krejci, and Nathan Horton has yet to make offensive dents in the opposition. And whether or not letting Michael Ryder go was a good idea, it is certainly not his leaving that is causing the Bruins' problems. Without the top line, the offense is pretty much nothing more than a cellar team. The Bruins need to get going, if they are to defend their Stanley Cup, and right now it's not looking that good.

"When your top line is supposed to be your top line, it should try and be that every night," Julien said. "And so far I don't think they're in sync, I don't think they're working hard enough as a group." They aren't working hard enough and it is showing. I mean sure, they managed to take one from Tampa Bay but Philadelphia and Colorado took bites out of this team. And the Bruins' group will need their leaders to put the bite back in the other teams.

The Bruins are in a bad position right now. They need their offense back and they need it back fast. If they don't, it'll look like a losing season and Bruins fans definitely don't want that. You know, at least on Sunday, they participated in the Stanley Cup ceremony at the Jets-Patriots game. But that ceremony is over. It's time to focus on a new season so now they have to find a way to jack up that offense or else it's bust.