Canadiens 2, Bruins 1

The term "Stanley Cup Hangover" will get thrown around a lot today and I just don't think that the Bruins are suffering from one. Why? Because they didn't win the Cup in 2010, and they still had stretches like this last season. This "hangover" notion is an excuse. They're simply not playing 60 full minutes of good hockey, the offensive guys aren't providing offense, they're not taking care of the puck, and their Power Play sucks.

Sound familiar? It happened last season. A few times. Two stretches in November, another in December, a long and painful one in March, it even happened in the playoffs. Games 1 and 2 against Montreal, for instance. And these lulls were not preceded by any Cup hoisting or parades. This Bruins team sometimes doesn't put in 60 minutes of effort, they have streaky players (Horton), and they are very vulnerable to a well-executed forecheck.

It's the player's fault. They have to play better. They did so in the 1st period. They sustained possessions in Montreal's zone. Then Price made an unforced error and it was 1-0. But the 2nd period saw less pressure, the 3rd saw next to none. We also saw the Bruins making casual passes with the puck in the 3rd. That led to Montreal's game-winning goal.

And if not for Price's mistake, the Bruins get shut out. The offense isn't functioning. Somebody besides Seguin has to score. He and Peverley lead the team with 3. They have 6, the rest of the team combines for 14. The Flyers and Jets scored more than that in one game last night (Winnipeg won 9-8).

Where is David Krejci? He had a great defensive play in this game but have you noticed him at all on offense? He has 1 goal and 0 assists. He and Horton are dragging this team down. The Lucic-Kelly-Seguin line is working nicely, the Thornton line started to show more energy last night, and while Bergeron and Marchand aren't scoring, they're at least getting shots on goal. Bergeron has more shots (29) than Krejci (12) and Horton (13) combined.

There are no pure scorers on this team. This offense succeeds when they get 2nd and 3rd chance shots on goal. When they stay in the opponents' zone for prolonged periods. Last night they struggled just to enter the zone. And then after the 1st, they struggled to keep the puck in. Even with their abundant Power Play opportunities.

It's frustrating. We've seen what this team is capable of when they decide to show up. Right now we're seeing giveaways, we're seeing careless neutral zone passes, we're seeing a pair of top line forwards competing with Shawn Thornton in the Shots on Goal category (Thornton has 10).

Maybe the Bruins feel like they can wait to turn it on when it matters most. But 1/9 of the season is over and the Bruins are 29th in the NHL. And they've already played 1/6 of their home games. You need points to make the playoffs, usually around 95. You need more points to win a division and get some home playoff series (the B's were 10-3 in home playoff games, 6-6 on the road), usually around 105 points. The Bruins have 6 right now. 6 points in 8 games with no injuries to any key players.

You can't just wait until January to turn it up. What if you're still in 4th place and you lose Thomas for 3 months? How do you dig yourself out of a hole then?

It's starting to get me concerned.

They should be well motivated Saturday night in Montreal. It's not a must-win. It's a must-show-me-something-so-I-can-relax.

-The Commodore

Hurricanes 4, Bruins 1

Give Carolina credit. They knew the Bruins would probably be frustrated, and the Canes took full advantage of that frustration. Cam Ward's goaltending didn't hurt either. The B's spent about a fifth of this game shorthanded. And when they weren't killing penalties, they seemed more concerned with killing Hurricanes than with scoring.

68 penalty minutes for the Bruins. And sure, the refs got a little bit over eager with their whistles, but can you blame them? Stuff like Horton pummeling Tim Gleason is simply ignorant hockey. Gleason was trying to goad Horton. And once Horton drops the gloves and Gleason refuses to fight, that has to be the end of it. Horton should have mocked Gleason by waving his arms John Wensink style, then skated away.

Maybe a little fire is what this team needs. The Peverley goal on the Power Play seemed to be a result of some of the sparks in this game. Then Horton committed his stupid penalty 30 seconds later, then the refs were a bit anxious and called Chara for high-sticking, then Marchand got ejected and Seidenberg was given a questionable boarding penalty. Things got a little out of hand.

And the throwing of objects onto the ice was sad. That's stuff that Montreal fans do. That's a whiny Canadian thing to do. You know what we do in Boston when we're pissed at the refs and the team for losing? We call up the Sports Grille, order a pizza, wait for the game to finish, then go drink. Beers are for drinking, not throwing.

Hopefully this team wakes up. But at the same time, they have to stay focused. They need to react with goals like Peverley's, not with penalties like Horton's.

B's host the 3-0-1 Maple Leafs on Thursday.

-The Commodore

Avalanche 1, Bruins 0

Uninspired. That's a good word to describe the Bruins' effort Monday afternoon. A few players played hard, Tuukka Rask played well, the Bruins just didn't seem to want to win as much as the Avalanche.

Give some credit to Semyon Varlamov (Voldemort), who made a few big stops. But the word "few" is the key part of that sentence. Only 30 shots on goal, 18 in the first two periods. Few of these shots were very good. The Bruins would enter the zone, shoot from 30 feet out, before anyone was in position to capitalize on a rebound, and Colorado would recover the puck. But Varlamov did have some outstanding stops.

The first line hasn't been productive. I think part of the problem is a rusty Nathan Horton. He was slightly off-balance for a scoring chance against Philly, and he was off balance in that 2-on-1 with Lucic. Varlamov didn't have to respect Horton's ability to shoot because Horton was too extended to shoot.

I wouldn't mind seeing Marchand or Seguin on the top line. I'd rather keep Marchand with Bergeron and Peverley. But until Horton gets his legs back, why not utilize a strong-skating Seguin on the most talented line?

A road trip isn't a bad thing at this point. Bruins are in Raleigh to play the Hurricanes on Wednesday, then Chicago on Saturday. A few days away from Boston might allow this team to focus and work.

-The Commodore