Why blown leads is the No. 1 issue Bruins must fix before playoffs
Why blown leads is the No. 1 issue Bruins must fix before playoffs originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins have a really good team. They wouldn’t be tied for first place in the Eastern Conference standings this deep into the season if that wasn’t the case.
But are the B’s one of the top three or even four Stanley Cup contenders?
Right now, the answer is no, and the biggest reason why is they can’t protect late leads.
This isn’t a new problem for the Bruins, even though it’s been front and center of late. Boston has blown a third-period lead in four of its last six games, including Monday night’s road loss to the Seattle Kraken. They had a 4-1 advantage over the Edmonton Oilers last week and needed overtime to win 6-5. Overall, the B’s took five out of eight points (1-0-3) from a tough road trip, but the inability to close games sticks out.
“You want to look at it both ways,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand told reporters after Monday’s loss. “You want to be happy that we had a decent road trip. There are some positives. We had the lead in a few games that we lost. But the negative is obviously that we lost those games and should have done a much better job closing them out.
“It’s a little disappointing because we had an opportunity to have a much better road trip, that’s where the expectations are. Going into the third period with a lead, you expect to win the game, and we have to. Coming down the stretch and into the playoffs, you’ve got to be able to win those games and close them out. We have to do better there.”
The Bruins were 47-1-2 when leading after two periods last season. The next-closest team was the Toronto Maple Leafs at 37-2-5. Once the B’s got the lead, it was pretty much game over for the opponent. But it all started to unravel in the playoffs, particularly in Game 6 and Game 7 of their first-round series versus the Florida Panthers. Most notably, the B’s had a 3-2 lead in the third period of Game 7 and allowed the Panthers to tie the…
