Boston Bruins Weekly Review: Feb. 5-11

The past week saw the Bruins bookended with losses, but the win was critical.

Both losses were to Western Conference teams; one wasn't a horrible lose with a 2-0 shutout by the hands of the San Jose Shark, but the other was, well, an embarrassment.

The Bruins are playing well overall, but the Detroit Red Wings game played this past Friday at the Garden was nothing of Bruins hockey. The jump was simply not there.

After winning four of their last five games and coming off an emotional win off the Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins were flat-footed and seemed like they were in slow motion.

The Red Wings, on the other hand, were quick out of the gate and wanted to end a slump not familiar with the Detroit Red and White in recent years.

The loan goal scored by David Krejci was on the power play when the Wings were up 2-0.  

After that, the wheels came off.

Now, to discuss the Canadiens game—and what a game! Obviously, I want the B's to win, but the game that these two displayed was awesome, got-your-money's-worth game.  

With the 8-6 B's victory came goals in bunches, some back and forth, fights galore. Some old-fashioned hockey. Even the goalies got into a fight (more of a scrum than anything else).

It seemed that PK Subban wanted to continue the pestering that he is so good at, but Nathan Horton had other ideas.

It got chippy between these two players which finally got Subban ticked off enough to respond to a light crosscheck to the lower back by Horton, Hal Gill stepped in to separate the two as Subban would have been no match to the much larger and capable Horton, but to end up with Lucic tugging on your jersey is by no means a downgrade.

Subban wisely declined a fight with Lucic.

Not sure what happened there, but from what I gathered, Horton and Subban where going to have a tilt, Gill stepped in to prevent it, Lucic was trying to separate or get involved to even the size/capability, Subban was a little overzealous by trying to jump in resulting in Lucic either saying enough is enough from the tiny upstart or remove him from Gill's and Horton's altercation.  

Either way, Subban seemed like he got the message.

All in all, the Bruins won the game and most of the fights. It was a key victory emotionally because it was the first victory this season against the divisional rivals.

Was it a game that was just ripe for the Bruins to win or was it that they figured out how they need to play this team? I don't know, but the Bruins did leave the ice with a high level of satisfaction.

The other reason it was a key victory was because thy maintained the divisional lead and extended it their lead to four points—for now.

The Detroit Red Wings match up was a stark comparison of the Bruins' play as the more wily veteran lineup did not get suckered into a melee like the much younger Canadiens did. The Wings stuck to their game plan and played puck possession throughout the game.

The Bruins were, as a result, playing very flat and couldn't generate many chances on Jimmy Howard.  

The result was that Howard faced only 26 shots and only needed to stop 25 of them as the Red Wings tore Tuukka Rask up with five goals on the night. Rask was pulled for Tim Thomas for the final frame, but the game was already well out of reach.  

One of the worst games that the Bruins played so far this season, but give the Wings props. They played their game to the letter and it got them the win.

The Good

The B's finally got a monkey off their back in the win against the Habs—much needed, as they will meet again two more times in March.

The loss to the Sharks was not necessarily a bad loss as the Bruins did play well, just that one back hand was the difference. All in all, they played a good game.

Bruins are finally using their size to throw their opponents off their game (with the exception of the Red Wings).

The Bad

Going 1-2-0 isn't a good week by any stretch.

Rask is continuing to struggle. I still think he is a great goalie, but I think his confidence is shaken with the amount of losses he has endured.

The Ugly

The Wings dominance in puck possession had to be both frustrating and embarrassing for the Black and Gold. Detroit virtually walked over the Bruins this night and did not give them any space.  

No matter how many ways you slice it, a 6-1 loss is ugly.

This is Cory Ducey saying: Hit hard, but keep it clean.