SUNRISE, Fla.Marty Turco has seen plenty of things happen, both good and bad, during his 540-game NHL career.
The 36-year-old netminder doesnt remember too many worse than allowing three goals on six shots in his first start for a new team, and he promised hed never have a game like that again in an NHL career with an expiration date on it.
Turco was one of the chief suspects in Bostons 6-1 shellacking at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Tampa Times Forum, not even lasting through the first five minutes of the first period.
Were measured in our games now and how we perform both collectively and as individuals, said Turco. Its not fun anytime you have to go in or come out. Whether you suck or the team needs a change in momentum. Thats one of the things that seems most unfair about the position is the demeaning nature of it. I hadnt played in a game in the NHL in a long time that Id started, and to have it go like that . . . you couldnt write it up any worse.
I want to give Tim Thomas a break and give him a chance to get back on his game when hes rested and feeling good.
He lost his stick on the first goal, he couldnt freeze the puck for a whistle on the second goal allowed and was beaten on a breakaway for the third Ryan Shannon score during a complete penalty kill breakdown.
So Turco had some pretty easy technical things to dissect, but it was much more about swallowing the feelings of embarrassment and disappointment after flopping in his debut in Black and Gold.
If I could have kept my stick on the first one it would have helped tremendously," he said. "Freezing it quicker on the second goal . . . thats about it on that one. I actually thought I had it for a second but Im not quite getting the quick whistles anymore. Then even though were down by a couple of goals you just need saves there.
It was a bad start and not a great game overall. To say it was a bad start from me would be true. It was disappointing."
But he knows that such performances sometimes happen.
Its part of the gig," he said. "Its part of the job. You need to wipe the slate clean and get back to work. Sometimes its about realizing what you need to do better. I think the best part of today so far was our team meeting. The video with the coaches showed what we could change and what could make us better quick.
Turco has a 4.42 goals-against average and an .824 save percentage after two appearances for the Bruins, and couldnt have looked difference in the two games. Against the Pittsburgh Penguins he looked controlled, confident and ready to help Thomas get some much needed rest after carrying the Bruins over the last three weeks. But Turco looked overwhelmed against the speed of the Tampa Bay Lightning in a smaller rink than the ones hed been playing in over in Austria for the Red Bulls.
Turco ended up stopping five of six shots after coach Claude Julien put him back in the game in the second period against Tampa Baythe first time in his NHL that hed twice entered a game. Julien said he wouldnt hesitate to go back to the former Blackhawks and Stars goaltender after the one momentously bad outing, but theres no doubting there will be some uneasiness in his next start.
Thats only human nature based on how quickly things got out of hand on Tuesday night. But Julien was sticking by his newest goalie, and said the plan is still in place.
Weve got to move forward here," said the coach. "You cant just say all of the sudden that Turco cant do the job. Our whole team can certainly be better. We can also help that situation as well. Our goaltenders both know that they have to better for us, but so does the rest of the team when you look at mistakes being made.
Right now today was one of those days where were fixing things a little bit . . . Bring a little more stability to our game and some confidence. The guys right now are just as discouraged as anybody else as far as the results go. What were trying to do is create some determination to turn this thing around. The one thing we have to do is minimizing is our goals against and we have to do that by being in the proper position.
It remains to be seen how the balance of starts shakes out moving forward, but theres no denying that the Bruins are dead-last in the NHL in eight games during the month of March with an .851 save percentage and a 3.75 goals against average.
That needs to change and it starts with a tandem effort from Turco and Thomas.