The Bruins have lived a charmed existence on Causeway Street.<\/p>\n
They have won 11 straight and have not lost at the Garden since December 23, when they finished off a 1-3-1 homestand that nearly derailed their season with a 6-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Even when the B\u2019s don\u2019t play particularly at home, such as in the first two games after the break, the B\u2019s have gotten the goaltending performances to get them over the hump and into the win column.<\/p>\n
But on the road, they have found no smiling hockey gods. They are just 11-13-4 away from Boston and are the only team within the Eastern Conference playoff bracket under NHL .500. No one else is even close. Even the Columbus Blue Jackets (15-3-3), Ottawa Senators (15-12-4) and Philadelphia Flyers (14-12-4) \u2013 three of the teams chasing them for the final wild card spot \u2014 is better than the B\u2019s on the road.<\/p>\n
Considering the rest of their schedule, this is a major concern. Of the 22 games remaining, 13 of them are on the road. Five of their last seven games are away from home. The last time they\u2019ve won consecutive games on the road was when they booked four points in St. Louis and Winnipeg on December 9 and 11.<\/p>\n
The B\u2019s home record (23-8-1) is as good or better than any team in the league outside of Colorado (22-4-4) but they need to somehow find a way to adopt a road warrior mentality in the final month-plus of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we\u2019re trying to figure that out,\u201d said David Pastrnak earlier this week. \u201cWe were talking the whole year about how we want to be a good home team, take care of home ice. So maybe a little more focus and detail on the road and get dialed. We play really well in front of our fans and it\u2019s important. They are our seventh player. We just need to turn it around on the road real quick before it\u2019s too late because those points on the road are ones that can cost you a playoff spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve had a couple of road stinkers \u2013 early losses in Ottawa and Dallas were particularly ugly \u2013 but they\u2019ve generally been competitive. Of the three games after the Olympic break, their best game was the one they lost in Philly last Saturday when they got stymied by Daniel Vladar, one of the few times this year that they really got goalie\u2019d. They should have gotten two points in the outdoor game in Tampa when the refs only saw Bruins on which to call penalties. They have a long list of wouda-coulda-shouldas that they can look back on if they don\u2019t make the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Too often, when games come down to one play, it is the other team that makes it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that we\u2019re terrible, but we do need to get points on the road,\u201d said coach Marco Sturm. \u201cThere are moments in the game on the road where we just have to handle it a little bit better and stay calm like we do at home. That\u2019s something our team is going through. We\u2019re still learning, we\u2019re still have to learn a lot. We\u2019re not perfect. We know that. But we\u2019re still growing as a team and moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deficits on the road, as Sturm pointed out, have been more daunting. The B\u2019s gave up an early goal to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, but didn\u2019t blink. That might have been different if the game was on the road, without their fans behind them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to figure out how to start off on the right foot,\u201d said Morgan Geekie. \u201cI feel like that\u2019s what gets away from us and we get off-kilter a little bit. We\u2019ve been playing really well at home and hopefully we can figure a few things out to be able to take that on the road with us come down the stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the B\u2019s face what would seem to be a wounded animal in the Nashville Predators. Though still technically in the hunt for a Western Conference playoff spot, the Preds have not only lost their last two games, management traded away Michael McCarron and Cole Smith on Tuesday. While they\u2019re depth players, coach Andrew Brunette said that they were important to the team\u2019s culture and the players seemed gutted by it. Also, the status of Ryan O\u2019Reilly, who left Tuesday\u2019s game after taking a stick near an eye, is unclear.<\/p>\n
But whether the Preds are ripe of the picking or ready for their last stand, the B\u2019s have to be more locked in, more focused on every detail than they usually have been on the road.<\/p>\n
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