Red Wings vs. Bruins: Tying/Losing Effort Against Detroit Not Quite Commendable

To give the positives their due acknowledgment, the Boston Bruins have refuted the knuckleheaded, cynical notion that they could not possibly have won the 2011 Stanley Cup had they faced the Detroit Red Wings in the postseason.

Reality check on that front: The San Jose Sharks dislodged the Red Wings in the second round, the top-dog Vancouver Canucks zapped the Sharks and the Bruins ultimately vanquished Vancouver. They finished on top of the 2011 playoff food chain—plain and simple.

Furthermore, the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens have traditionally given the Bruins regular-season fits not unlike Detroit in that home-and-home last February. Yet when Boston met those divisional cohabitants in the first round of the last two seasons, the battle-tested Bruins found themselves on the smiling side of both handshake lines.

But for those who still want to label Detroit the defending champs’ perennial nemesis, a 3-2 shootout decision is not a valid cut of red meat.

With all that being said, Bruins buffs should not take a single ice chip of consolation in the way their team’s month-long winning streak ended Friday afternoon. No matter who ultimately prevailed in overtime or the shootout, this game was already living proof that awarding an automatic point for a regulation tie is the right policy for the NHL.

But while one point is more than zero, it is fewer than two, and that’s what the Bruins would have had at Detroit’s expense with one extra sliver of assertiveness, alertness and opportunism.

The Bruins ought to have led at some point, especially in the midst of running up an initial 11-2 edge in the shooting gallery and drawing the game’s first two penalties on Detroit, or at least after drawing 1-1 and 2-2 knots.

But the afternoon’s starting line of Nathan Horton, David Krejci and Milan Lucic was particularly liable for the fact that Boston never did raise the upper hand.

Each constituent of that line registered only one shot on goal while 14 of their teammates combined to pelt Red Wings stopper Jimmy Howard with 40. The lone exception was third-line center Chris Kelly, who did not get around to attempting any shots throughout the 65 minutes of full-scale hockey action.

Lucic’s only registered shot of the day came during the second of two unanswered Boston power plays in the opening frame. But during that same segment, he gave the puck away and effectively invited a short-handed bid by Darren Helm 27 seconds before Lucic took his own stab at the other end.

Less than 10 minutes earlier, the Bruins tested Howard three times on their first power play. Had one of those penetrated the backstop, they would have raised a 1-0 upper hand. A conversion on their second man-up segment would have deleted the 1-0 deficit earlier.

Horton, who had another one of those first-period power-play shots, did help to get that first equalizer. He forced a turnover in the left corner of the defensive zone and set up Daniel Paille, who fed a gaping goal-mouth at 4:05 of the middle frame.

But after that, Horton did not so much as get credit for attempting a shot.

Krejci earned a takeaway in each full-length, regulation period, but he also took only two out of his 12 faceoffs. And he did not muster an attempted shot, let alone a shot on net, until there were 12 seconds remaining in overtime.

When Krejci’s belated bid was barred by Howard, it ended a stretch of 45 minutes and 16 seconds without any member of his line pulling the trigger on the puck.

The line indubitably could have posed more of a threat, except on multiple occasions, Lucic and Horton were caught struggling to get a routine grip on a pass or loose puck. At 10:35 of the first period, in particular, Horton could have spooned his own rebound over Howard for a power-play conversion, but let the puck trickle off his stick before he could muster a quality shot.

All this while the Bruins were working to recompense 1-0 and 2-1 deficits and subsequently putting forth a vain effort to usurp the lead altogether.

In the third period, wherein alternate captain and longest-tenured Bruins skater Patrice Bergeron pounced on another turnover for the second equalizer, Boston ran up 18 tries against Howard. Yet of those 18, not a single one came from Krejci, Lucic or Horton.

On the one hand, one of Boston’s top two centers was there to effectively keep the unbeaten streak alive. But still, a whole half of the top six was not there to enhance the odds of keeping the winning streak intact.

A complete effort by a complete lineup and the Bruins would have had the complete two-point package at the end of regulation, maybe even by a two-goal margin.

That is the standard this team has reached. As long as everyone is healthy, energized and well past their championship hangover, which they patently are, any loss (or non-win) to any team is their own fault.