The Bruins have a boatload of expertise of their dressing room, however even probably the most senior of gamers have by no means discovered themselves within the scenario they’re in proper now, enviable although it might be.
They are a whopping 19 factors forward of the Toronto Maple Leafs for thee Atlantic Division crown, and so they have a 13-point over the Carolina Hurricanes for the Presidents’ Trophy and residential ice benefit all through the playoffs.
While the B’s nonetheless have to fine-tune their sport – the struggling energy play is the very first thing that involves thoughts – it doesn’t seem that they are going to benefit from significant competitors within the standings to push them alongside.
The 49-8-5 B’s have given indicators that that dynamic is not going to throw them off track. But in a career for which competitors is the lifeblood, it does current a problem.
“It’s different. It definitely is,” mentioned Charlie Coyle after Monday’s observe. “You wish to at all times be challenged, proper? We can create little challenges inside our season. We can say ‘Hey, these next three games coming up. It’s a three-game sequence. We’ve bought to win no less than two of them,’ type of like a playoff sequence. And we are able to use these type of challenges to verify we’re targeted in and getting the job finished.
“I think you can incorporate little games and challenges like that. I think that can help. It gets your mind in the right place so it’s not just another game in Seattle, or a back-to-back in Calgary and Edmonton. It keeps you mentally in there, mentally focused. You think to yourself ‘This is a must-win game. Let’s get it done.’ Just get your mind right. Because that’s what it’s going to take. You don’t want to get lackadaisical when you’re up in the standings. You can kind of coast. But we don’t want to coast. You want to make sure we’re pressured and we’re prepping for playoffs. We want that intensity. It’s hard to mimic at times during the year. But if we can do that internally, I think that’s going to help.”
Coach Jim Montgomery mentioned the B’s took that three-game playoff sequence mentality in the beginning of the latest highway journey. After the B’s gained the primary two video games in Seattle and Vancouver take to win the imagined sequence, the psychology was modified. They handled the sport in Vancouver as Game 7 of a sequence after which they have been confronted with taking part in Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the following “series” on in the future of relaxation.
“It’s such a great league that there’s always different ways to be able to create challenges that we think is going to help us in the long-term,” mentioned Montgomery, whose crew has 20 video games left.
But whereas the teaching workers can institute all types of psychological gymnastics, the crew’s tradition and ethos are what makes all of it work.
“We don’t change what our outlook has been,” mentioned Montgomery. “We’ve had a fairly comfortable lead for a while. And (assistant coach) Joe Sacco said it best when we were on the road. I don’t remember where we were, but he said ‘It’s amazing how hard these guys play,’ knowing what we all are talking about right now. We continually talk about areas we need to get better at. We don’t ever talk about what you guys are asking about. We don’t think ‘we can go 5-15 and probably finish first.’ I don’t know if that’s true, though it’s not far from the truth, probably. But we don’t analyze the mathematics of it. We just worry about where we’re headed and how we think we have to get there.”
One carrot that the B’s will not be dangling in entrance of themselves is catching the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, who maintain the report for many factors with 133. Beating that mark would include a few asterisks in that the Habs did that in an 80-game schedule and that it was within the pre-overtime period when the second OT level was not accessible. But there’s are additionally the wins report of 62 held by the 1995-96 Red Wings and the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning, neither of whom gained the Stanley Cup, by the way in which.
The B’s didn’t wish to be a daily season surprise.
“If anything, we’re talking about not letting that get into our heads too much,” mentioned Coyle of the information. “I can’t tell you who the last great team was to be the best in the regular season. I don’t think people remember that, unless you’re looking at a stat book, may you see that. But if you don’t win a championship while doing that, I don’t think it matters. We know what the end result is (what’s desired). If we do that, then we can look back on that stuff and say ‘Hey, look at the regular season.’ But the regular season means nothing if we don’t get that end goal.” …
Quick hits
With assistance from crutches, Nick Foligno handed by means of the dressing room with a proper knee closely bandaged. Meanwhile, there’s no definitive plan of action on Taylor Hall, who sought a second opinion on his decrease physique damage. There is not any timetable for both participant.
“They’re both in the same situation… they both feel really good but they’re not at a place where they can even be thought about being players. And… we haven’t gotten any feedback from the second opinion yet,” mentioned Montgomery. …
With 4 days between video games, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci got Monday off from the on-ice session.
“Senior citizen discount,” joked Montgomery.
Source: www.bostonherald.com