Claude Julien: Bruins show ‘a better nose for the net'

Share

BOSTON – The Bruins had scored just six goals during five-on-five play in their six game losing streak, and it seemed to be a monumental task to create anything approaching sustained offensive production in any form. So they went hunting for goals on Saturday with the knowledge that Henrik Lundqvist would be making his return between the pipes for the New York Rangers, and the Black and Gold found the offensive mother lode with a 4-2 win over the Blue shirts. 

The game featured Milan Lucic scoring the game’s first two goals in the first 10 minutes of the game, and matching his goal production output for the first 12 games during the month of March. It also saw Carl Soderberg score just his second goal in the last 29 games for an insurance score in the first period, and Reilly Smith snapping a 14-game goalless drought with a second period strike that proved to be an important goal when New York started coming back. 

“I think it will help like Looch [Milan Lucic] scored today, and me and Reilly [Smith],” said Soderberg. “I think that’s good for the team spreading out the scoring a little bit. We played a strong game tonight, so we want to continue that for sure.”

Claude Julien was happy to welcome the offensive output from places that had gone dry over the last few months. 

“I think [Smith] has played better in the last couple of games. And again, Carl Soderberg has been a lot better,” said Julien. “As I mentioned earlier, it’s never too late for guys to step up. It’s nice to see some of those guys come up big for us.”

Perhaps even more encouraging to the B’s head coach was the way the goals were scored. The first goal for Lucic bounced in off his skate blade as he was going hard to the net for a rebound, and the second score was a shot from the left wing opened up when Torey Krug drove to the net. Soderberg stole a puck at the offensive blue, and then drove hard to the net for his unassisted 12th goal of the season. 

Smith again crashed the net in the second period, and was able to knock home a loose puck after Loui Eriksson and Soderberg had created some turmoil in front of the New York net. 

Those are the kind of goals that arrive because of hard work rather than opening up too much defensively, and trying to get into a chance-for-chance game with the opposition. That’s what happened when they scored a combined seven goals, but still lost road games to the Senators and Lightning last week. 

“We talked about it again before the game today that we need to get a better nose for the net, and I use that in the way that we need better net-front presence, we need to stay there, we need to find those loose pucks, and we need to drive to that area to score goals, especially five-on-five,” said Julien. “It was a lot better today and allowed us to score some early goals here and even Looch’s [Milan Lucic] second goal, you’ve got a middle drive there that opens a lane for him. 

“Those are the things that you need, and that going to the net makes it hard on the opposing teams. We need a little bit more of that. If we can continue to do that we’ll score some goals.”

The obvious challenge for the Bruins will be continuing to draw this kind of production out of the various corners of the roster, and continuing to generate offense no matter what the opponent or the situation. They have seven games to prove they can do it, and that will be an important factor in whether or not the 23rd ranked offense in the NHL ultimately makes the postseason. 

Contact Us