BRIGHTON -- While not mentioning exactly where it could possibly stem from, Claude Julien insisted there’s no “curse” on the Boston Bruins when it comes to their lacking performance on the TD Garden home ice over the last couple of seasons. The Bruins dropped to 1-3-0 on home ice this season when they dropped a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers last weekend, and have been outscored by a rough 15-6 margin in those four games for an awful minus-9 goal differential on the Garden ice.
It’s something the Bruins players are keenly aware of even before the natives get restless in the stands once another home loss seems unavoidable.
“We’ve been on the losing side of things at home. For whatever reason, we play so well on the road,” said Torey Krug. “I don’t know if it’s matchups, or if we’re worrying too much about matchups, or anything like that. But, we’ve got to figure out a way to bounce back at home, and make this a tough place for other teams to come into.”
The match-up game is, of course, in reference to the Bruins getting last change on home ice where the coaches can dictate matchups each and every shift, and theoretically place the B’s into more advantageous situations throughout the game. Clearly that hasn’t always been the case, however, judging by the results, and things just seem to go awry for this hockey club in a state where they can be easily distracted at home.
The Black and Gold get a chance to improve that a bit with a Monday tilt against the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden, and play two of their next three games at home with a quick one-day jaunt to Montreal tomorrow thrown in for good measure.
But Julien stressed following Monday’s morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena that the Bruins can’t get caught up in a home ice record (18-21-6) that’s been stink-out-loud for the last two seasons, and just need to go out and change the conversation with results.
''We try to stay away from talking about our home record because everybody else is talking about it. We have to focus on our jobs, and playing well enough to win hockey games. We can’t get caught up in this whatever we want to call it, a curse, or lack of…or whatever it is,” said Julien, who is likely more concerned with his club playing six games in seven days including a pair of back-to-backs in a grueling portion of the schedule this week. “We just have to come out and play well. Our goal is to come out and win a hockey game [against the Sabres] and start our week off on the right foot. That’s what we’ve talked about, and not so much about the other stuff.”
Boston Bruins
The proof will be on the ice on Monday night with the Bruins also battling the potential danger of overlooking Buffalo for a Habs team lying in wait for the Black and Gold, on the second night of a back-to-back, at the Bell Centre for a Tuesday night date.