Dear Bruins Nation:
I ask each of you, what expectations should we set for the Boston Bruins, who are on a seven-game losing streak? The highs of last year's 116-point regular season? Or a dip below ninety points and presumably out of the playoffs?
I submit that the answer, like in politics, resides between the extremes. After last season's success, we have positioned our hopes too high; similarly, we put excess emphasis on the current crisis. We need to, I believe, put the sub-par performances into perspective.
Let us reflect back to when the Carter Administration was in the Oval Office, more specifically to the 1978-79 NHL campaign. In the regular season, the Bruins won twenty more games than it lost. How soon we forget, however, that they floundered in futility, from mid-January to mid-February? During that stretch, the Big Bad Bruins were mostly bad: Their record was 4-9-2 and included a loss to the baritone St. Louis Blues, who would win only eighteen games that season.
We ought to ponder the possibility that this year's Black and Gold, like the economy and the Pittsburgh Penguins, will recover.
The Penguins, Mr. Special Advisor?
Yes indeed, the Penguins. The team that won the Cup last year and then went 9-1 to open this season, slumped from late-December until mid-January; Sidney Crosby and company lost five straight, including one to the lowly Leafs. Yet do ye doubt the Pens will miss the playoffs?
In this age of parity, it's too soon for Bruins' fans to surrender. Too soon to entertain whimsical trades (mortgage the future for Ilya Kovalchuk?) or to call for the coachs head. How many times will we repeat these mistakes in our zeal to see the Cup hoisted in the Hub City?
Still not buying the "Stay the Course" speech? Stay tuned for Part II.
