Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Arizona. That sounds like a pretty good list of destinations if you were taking a seven day vacation along the west coast. That is not the case for the Boston Bruins as the upcoming week will be anything but a relaxing vacation. Especially since some of their notable players are still missing in game action and won’t be making the trip across the country.
David Krejci and Zdeno Chara won’t be traveling with the team this week. Chara was expected to miss four to six weeks with a knee injury which would have put him back in the lineup for this road trip but he is still rehabbing. Chara just began skating again last week and will need to remain behind to continue building knee strength. Krejci has missed 10 of the last 12 games and has suffered setbacks in the undisclosed injury that continues to hamper one of the B’s top centers.
Ailing Bruins Make West Coast Swing
So they’re headed out without one of their top defenders and without one of their top men on the draw. Not good news when having to face some of the best in the west. Anaheim is fourth overall in the Western Conference and second in their division. While the Bruin’s record is on par with those of L.A. and San Jose that doesn’t necessarily translate to wins when having to make the long trip to California. The Arizona Coyotes are at the bottom of the conference hovering just above Edmonton but the Bruins will still be undermanned and facing the ‘Yotes in their fourth game on the road in six days’ time.
It’s a different year with different circumstances but last year’s western swing wasn’t too kind to the black and gold. They took 5-2 and 4-2 shellackings from both the Ducks and Kings before being able to eke out a 1-0 shutout of the Sharks. They were able to handle both home and away meetings with the struggling Coyotes last year but that was with a mostly healthy team.
Making matters worse on the back end is the absence of Adam McQuaid with a broken thumb, while David Warsofsky has not been cleared for contact and its unknown if he’ll be joining the team for the trip. Warsofsky has been skating for the first time since a Nov. 6th groin injury suffered against Edmonton. They will have Kevan Miller available who got dinged up in the Black Friday match against Winnipeg. Miller is from L.A.; let’s hope the homecoming gives him the extra oomph needed to help the Bruin’s ailing blue line.
All things considered, I think the goal here would be to come out of this trip with four points. However you want to add it up; two wins, two overtime losses and a win, whatever it takes. If they can come away with four points while being as hurt as they are, then they have done as well as can be expected. Any more than that, then that’s just gravy, but any less and you have to wonder if the Bruins will have what it takes to play through adversity and make a push for the post season.
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