sleddy2008
02-06-2010, 04:45 PM
C/P from TSN.ca
(Sports Network) - The Vancouver Canucks have had a rough start to a record-long road trip, but their struggles are nothing compared to what the Boston Bruins are enduring right now.
The reeling Bruins hope to finally put an end to the second-worst losing streak in team history when the Canucks skate into TD Garden this afternoon for an interconference clash.
Boston suffered its ninth straight defeat with Thursday's 3-2 shootout loss to rival Montreal, and the defending Northeast Division champs are a brutal 1-9-3 since posting a 4-1 win at Ottawa on January 5. The skid is the Bruins' longest since a franchise-record 11-game slide from December 3, 1924-January 5, 1925.
The poor stretch has dropped Boston, which led the Eastern Conference with 116 points last season, into an 11th-place tie in the standings.
In Thursday's loss, the Bruins failed to hold onto an early 2-0 lead and struggled to get shots past Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who racked up 45 saves between regulation and overtime and then stoned all three Boston skaters he faced in the shootout.
The Canadiens' Brian Gionta scored the only goal in the deciding phase when he lifted a backhand over Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask. Marc Savard had Boston's last chance, but his move back to the forehand was sticked aside by Halak to end the game.
It was the second shootout loss for Boston in three games, with the slumping squad also falling to Los Angeles by a 3-2 count on January 30.
"I'm not going to stand here and say we're a bad team. Absolutely not," said Bruins head coach Claude Julien. "We believe we have a better than average hockey team. I think our team was pretty good [Thursday]."
While the Bruins did give good effort their last time out, the team has still had trouble finding offense during its losing streak. Boston has mustered two goals or fewer in eight straight games and has scored a mere 11 times over that span.
Vancouver's offense was also shut down in its latest test, when Ottawa's Brian Elliott stopped 29-of-30 shots in the Senators' 3-1 decision over the Canucks on Thursday. The loss was Vancouver's second in a row following a season-high seven-game winning streak.
Kyle Wellwood spoiled Elliott's shutout bid by knocking home a power-play shot with 1:39 remaining in regulation. Andrew Raycroft finished with 18 saves for the Canucks, who are 1-2-0 thus far on an NHL-record 14-game trip that overlaps the upcoming Winter Olympic break.
"We had too many guys that just didn't play well and, I hate saying this, but didn't compete as hard as the opposition," head coach Alain Vigneault told Vancouver's official site afterward. "Even though [the Senators] didn't get much in the second [period] and the third -- they might have had two or three chances in those two periods -- we weren't good enough five-on-five and weren't executing enough."
Despite the two recent losses, which dropped the Canucks to 11-13-1 on the road, Vancouver still holds a two-point edge on Colorado for first place in the Northwest Division.
The Canucks will be seeking their first win in Boston since March 3, 2003. The Bruins have taken three of four meetings between the teams following that game, two of which were held at TD Garden.
(Sports Network) - The Vancouver Canucks have had a rough start to a record-long road trip, but their struggles are nothing compared to what the Boston Bruins are enduring right now.
The reeling Bruins hope to finally put an end to the second-worst losing streak in team history when the Canucks skate into TD Garden this afternoon for an interconference clash.
Boston suffered its ninth straight defeat with Thursday's 3-2 shootout loss to rival Montreal, and the defending Northeast Division champs are a brutal 1-9-3 since posting a 4-1 win at Ottawa on January 5. The skid is the Bruins' longest since a franchise-record 11-game slide from December 3, 1924-January 5, 1925.
The poor stretch has dropped Boston, which led the Eastern Conference with 116 points last season, into an 11th-place tie in the standings.
In Thursday's loss, the Bruins failed to hold onto an early 2-0 lead and struggled to get shots past Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who racked up 45 saves between regulation and overtime and then stoned all three Boston skaters he faced in the shootout.
The Canadiens' Brian Gionta scored the only goal in the deciding phase when he lifted a backhand over Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask. Marc Savard had Boston's last chance, but his move back to the forehand was sticked aside by Halak to end the game.
It was the second shootout loss for Boston in three games, with the slumping squad also falling to Los Angeles by a 3-2 count on January 30.
"I'm not going to stand here and say we're a bad team. Absolutely not," said Bruins head coach Claude Julien. "We believe we have a better than average hockey team. I think our team was pretty good [Thursday]."
While the Bruins did give good effort their last time out, the team has still had trouble finding offense during its losing streak. Boston has mustered two goals or fewer in eight straight games and has scored a mere 11 times over that span.
Vancouver's offense was also shut down in its latest test, when Ottawa's Brian Elliott stopped 29-of-30 shots in the Senators' 3-1 decision over the Canucks on Thursday. The loss was Vancouver's second in a row following a season-high seven-game winning streak.
Kyle Wellwood spoiled Elliott's shutout bid by knocking home a power-play shot with 1:39 remaining in regulation. Andrew Raycroft finished with 18 saves for the Canucks, who are 1-2-0 thus far on an NHL-record 14-game trip that overlaps the upcoming Winter Olympic break.
"We had too many guys that just didn't play well and, I hate saying this, but didn't compete as hard as the opposition," head coach Alain Vigneault told Vancouver's official site afterward. "Even though [the Senators] didn't get much in the second [period] and the third -- they might have had two or three chances in those two periods -- we weren't good enough five-on-five and weren't executing enough."
Despite the two recent losses, which dropped the Canucks to 11-13-1 on the road, Vancouver still holds a two-point edge on Colorado for first place in the Northwest Division.
The Canucks will be seeking their first win in Boston since March 3, 2003. The Bruins have taken three of four meetings between the teams following that game, two of which were held at TD Garden.