Bruins hope to find groove midway through the season

Not long ago, the Bruins were playing impressive and commendable hockey, and they seemed to be rounding into contending form. The season hadn’t gone quite according to plan through December, as the team had suffered injuries to key players, including one to mammoth defenseman and captain Zdeno Chara.

After finally getting healthy, they ended the month of January dominantly, going 8-1-3. The month of February, however, has been far less kind. The Bruins have lost three of their four games this month, and have been ineffective and consistently outplayed at nearly every turn.

The slump started with a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Rangers, who were without all-world starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who missed the game due to injury.The Rangers are a good team in the thick of the playoff race, but the Bruins should still perform better against a team’s backup goaltender. Then, the Bruins played well in a reassuring victory over the Islanders Saturday night. They followed that performance up, though, with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the rival Montreal Canadiens.

The loss to the Canadiens was the fourth for the Bruins this season, marking the first time they have been swept in the season series by their nemesis since the 2007-08 season.

Most recently, the Bruins experienced their ugliest and least satisfying loss against the Dallas Stars. Armed with former Bruin phenom and NHL goals leader Tyler Seguin, the Stars came into TD Garden Tuesday night and left with a 5-3 victory.Bruins coach Claude Julien started backup goalie Niklas Svedberg in order to give starter Tuukka Rask the night off. Rask’s rest lasted only a period, however, as Svedberg allowed an abysmal three goals on only 10 Dallas shots.

Multiple special teams mistakes proved to be Boston’s undoing. After an early game misconduct penalty on the Stars’ Antoine Roussel, the Bruins had a five-minute power play. What could and should have allowed them to jump to an early advantage instead put them in a hole when Dallas' Vernon Fiddler scored a shorthand goal to move the Stars ahead 1-0.The Bruins tied the score at one and, after two Jamie Benn goals put Dallas ahead 3-1, Julien put Rask in to start the second.

The goalie switch seemed to work, as the Bs came back to tie the game at three. Then, they went back on the power play with a great opportunity to take the lead.Instead, they made a mistake that  cost them the game. Lackadaisical and apathetic with their play, the Bruins allowed Dallas’ Trevor Daley to skate through all three zones, shoot, get his own rebound and score, all while shorthanded. The goal gave the Stars an advantage they did not give up.

In the NHL, everything can change in an instant. From week to week, game to game and even period to period, hockey is difficult to predict. A year ago, the Bruins were the best regular season team in hockey, winning the President’s Trophy. Two weeks ago, they were playing arguably their best hockey of the season and starting to move up the standings.

Now, they sit in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference, the final playoff seed. They hold a four point lead over the Florida Panthers, but the Panthers have two games in hand.

The Bruins now head out on a five-game road trip, with four of those games coming against opponents that are currently slated to make the playoffs. It isn't so late in the season that these upcoming games mark a do-or-die stretch for this team, but they are important.

Given the run of success in the not-too-distant past, it’s obvious the Bs have the potential to correct the mistakes of the past few games and perform well down the stretch. There are indeed reasons for optimism. For example, Rask has allowed two or fewer goals in 11 of his past 13 starts and has a .947 save percentage thus far in 2015.

Eighteen-year-old rookie phenom David Pastrnak, who recently joined the team, has already made his presence felt. Injecting his often-dazzling skill into the lineup has improved the team’s overall offense. Pastrnak has tallied five goals and two assists since being permanently called up from the AHL in early January to play on the team’s first line.

The NHL playoffs are practically a separate season in and of themselves. Once you’re in, just about anything can happen. The team that takes home the Cup in June often is not the best regular-season team, but the one that catches fire at the right time. For now, the Bruins need to worry about playing their bruising, tough style of hockey and ensuring their spot in the postseason.

They haven’t been the dominant force many expected them to be, but the season is far from over and the Bruins are far from done.