If you want to try to measure the value of Kyle McLaren to the
Boston Bruins, don't bother with points, or plus/minus, or any of
that stuff. All you need to know is 3-8-3.
That's the Bruins' record over the 14 games Kyle missed due to a
shoulder injury. Without him, the Bruins defense was off kilter,
as defensive pairings needed to be rotated, and his regular
partner, Don Sweeney, was nowhere near as effective with Grant
Ledyard or Dave Ellett as he was with Kyle. Kyle and Donnie go
together like, well, like Ray Bourque and Hal Gill, or like Ray
Bourque and Don Sweeney, back when Don was the young guy learning
his trade by playing with Ray. Just as the youth, strength, and
size of Hal Gill are complimentary to the experience and skill of
Ray Bourque, Kyle McLaren's energy, power, and grit complement
Sweeney's speed and defensive know-how.
Now Kyle is back, and in his return game against Ottawa, he
helped bolster a Bruin team that has been battered both on the
scoreboard and in the infirmary. Unfortunately, little else went
right for the Bruins, from the fluky backhander by Daniel
Alfredsson that bounced into the Boston goal off Anson Carter's
glove only 1:17 into the game, to the shutout that Bruins nemesis
Ron Tugnutt pitched at his favorite opponent. If all Tugnutt's
games were against the Bruins, he would be a Hockey Hall of Fame
goaltender -- ever since the 70-save overtime tie he played as a
Nordique in Boston Garden, the guy has been a curse to the Black
and Gold.
Ever take the family on a big trip, only to have everyone come
down with the flu, and then little Johnny breaks his leg and you
spend half your vacation time in some nasty emergency room,
feeling like a Bosnian refugee?
Well, that kind of summarizes the Bruins' road trip to Western
Canada. After a decent start against Edmonton and a 2-0 win,
most of the team got the flu and the injuries started to pile up.
Steve Heinze with a pulled groin, Darren Van Impe with a shoulder
separation, Sergei Samsonov with a nasty thigh bruise, Peter
Ferraro with a bruised foot, PJ Axelsson with a sprained wrist,
and Pat Burns with an ever-present scowl that looked like it
would require surgical removal.
The injury situation got so bad that Landon Wilson, called up
from Providence of the AHL, didn't even get into a game before he
ended up on the sick list. Wilson went to the hospital with
suspected appendicitis, but it turned out to be an abdominal
strain. Either way, Wilson never hit the ice for the Bs - it
isn't much help when your call-ups are laid-up.
Injuries happen, but when a team is not talent-stocked, injuries
are harder to overcome. To rise to the occasion, a team must have
confidence and motivation.
The Bruins had some of that spunk coming off a road win in
Edmonton, but lost a large portion of their gumption when they
coughed up a win to Calgary on a desperation tip-in goal with
under ten seconds to play. Joe Thornton had tied the game with
about a minute left on a strong power move to the net. But the
Bruins dawdled in their zone, looking ahead to overtime, and a
Flame's shot casually thrown at the net was tipped away from
Byron Dafoe and into the goal, sinking the Bruin's hopes and
confidence.
They played the next game, against Vancouver, like they all had
the flu (and they did) and were in danger of imminent collapse
(and they did). Against two western teams that have not even
showed the potential to live up to their potential, the Bruins
were off-guard and unconscious, respectively. In the Calgary
game, the Bruins at least showed some offense, getting three
goals. But against Vancouver, goalie Rob Tallas was mostly left
to fend for himself, and minus Samsonov, Heinze, and others, the
offense looked like it wasn't sure which goal to shoot at. Even
the goal they scored was the result of a Vancouver defenseman
sweeping an Anson Carter shot past a surprised Garth Snow.
The Bruins' play of late is enough to send their fans fleeing the
country. In fact, this fan is heading for the Virgin Islands for
vacation, and the initial concern about missing some Bruins
hockey is beginning to turn into "How far can I get away, for how
long?" But surely after a few days in the sun, that concern
will turn into "Do any bars on St. Marten get NESN?"
In the meantime, this report will get filed before the Bruins
play their weekend game, so let's have a little fun with
predictions. Now, the immediate temptation, since the Bruins
play at Chicago on Sunday, is to do a rip-off of the Saturday
Night Live Bears fans shtick, substituting Pat Burns for Ditka:
"Let's see, if da Broons cloned Pat Burns 20 times, and they all
played against the Blackhawks, what would the score be? Well,
Todd, 103-0, unless there was a fight and 19 of the Pat Burns
clones got thrown out of the game. Then the Flyers might score,
if Pat Burns the backup goalie got tired of outskating the entire
Chicago team, and couldn't get back to the goal after scoring
number 103."
No, let's not be silly. Even if the Bruins are suddenly now a
last place team, and have slipped behind Montreal into 10th place
in the East, they are miles ahead of the sorry-ass season the
Blackhawks are having. With 33 losses already, mired dead last
in the poor-excuse-for-a-conference West, the Hawks are having
the kind of year Bill Wirtz deserves to have annually. (Wirtz,
you might remember, fraudulently stole Bobby Orr from the Bruins,
and then ripped off - with the help of sleazebag pal Alan
Eagleson - the greatest hockey player ever, to the point where
Orr had to hawk ATM cards on TV to send his kid to college.
Really. No exaggeration.)
So what is our prediction? A dreadful game against a dreadful
team, and the Bruins have had a tendency lately to play down to
the level of their weakest opponent. The only way this game could
get worse is if Chris Chelios and Ray Bourque get into an old-guy
slap fight. 4-1 Hawks, with Tony Amonte and Eric Daze making the
Bruins wish they had made a trade to get them. Unless of course,
Harry Sinden makes that trade while the Bs are in Chicago, and
Tony and Eric suit up for the Bruins. Then they will collide
with each other and be out for the season, confirming what Harry
always says about the folly of trading for high-priced players.
Speaking of Harry, the prospects for a trade to solve the Bruins'
woes were dealt another blow when Harry made the shrewd
statement, referring to the Bruins' lack of interest in obtaining
Theo Fleury, that he won't be bringing five, six or seven million
dollar players into Boston, no sirree. This clever ploy was meant
to trick these players and their dopey agents into wanting to cut
their salaries to come to Boston and play for the world's only
hockey genius. It will have top-notch players begging to be
Bruins, and the Bruins' own potential young stars will be
yearning for their chance to go into contract negotiations
with Mr. Generosity. Hope you didn't get any of that dripping
sarcasm on you.
Now to be almost fair, there are a lot of NHL teams that have
thrown fiscal caution to the wind to suck up high-priced players,
and they are paying dearly for it, with no silver cups in the
trophy case. On the other hand, there are fans in New York and
Detroit and Colorado who have kissed a Cup or two, and would say
"it is better to have paid, and won one, then never have to won
at all."
Unfortunately, what Harry's words say to Bruins fans is "Don't
expect to see a Stanley Cup in Boston for another twenty-five
years unless it is visiting, but we've got plenty of $4.00
Expresso and $5.00 Nachos, courtesy of Delaware North. Enjoy the
circus, err, hockey game."
As much as this correspondent would like to say happy things
about the Bruins every two weeks, lately there hasn't been much
to cheer about. So better to follow a time-honored Boston
tradition that "When the going gets tough, whine about it." The
idea is that if you make yourself feel miserable enough about
this week, next week is sure to look better. So what if the
Bruins are losing, and the Celtics can barely beat an NBA team
from Vancouver, and Roger Clemens is traded to the hated Yankees,
and every Patriot player you liked is now a New York Jet? Things
will be better tomorrow!
Hey, after all, Ray Bourque is still alive and well, Walter Zenga
is back with the New England Revolution, and the Red Sox have
raised their ticket prices again. Well, two outta three ain't
bad.
Two weeks from now, everything will be great.
