Bruins News & Rumors: Marchand, Kelly, Brazeau & More

“I think the 82 [game] grind, you’re going to have nights where you have it and nights when you don’t, but I think with Brad, we always get his maximum effort, and that’s how he leads us and I think that’s why we’re one of the teams with the most points in the league. A lot of times your team play is a reflection of your captain, and our captain competes really hard. But with that, there’s frustration. He’s part of that frustration on the power play, right? He expects to do great things and that’s why he’s an elite player. But sometimes it doesn’t go your way — some nights, you get impatient. I think he’s a little impatient right now, especially on the power play.”

Jim Montgomery

Montgomery went on to say that he’s not 100%, but who is at this time of year? There should be no concern about Marchand’s game, but finding the net a couple of times before the playoffs begin would be big for him and the team.

Senators Interested in Chris Kelly?

It’s another lost season for the Senators who are going to be once again on the outside looking in when the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin in April. Earlier this year, they fired head coach D.J. Smith and placed Jacques Martin behind the bench, but it was still more of the same for Ottawa. They are going to be looking for another head coach once the season ends and former Ottawa senior vice-president of player development Pierre McGuire thinks Chris Kelly would be a good fit as a head coach for the Senators.

“Why not? I don’t know why that wouldn’t be a good choice,” McGuire said. “Kelly was a really good player, Stanley Cup champion. He’s learned a lot coaching in Boston. He’s learned a lot from different people, too.”

Ottawa drafted Kelly in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, 94th overall, in the third round, and Ottawa GM Steve Staios has begun to put together a list of potential candidates and Kelly is someone who has done a good job in Boston under former coach Bruce Cassidy and Montgomery, which would make him a logical choice for a team looking to rebuild quickly in a stacked Atlantic Division.

Bruins First Power Play Unit Struggles

The Bruins pride themselves on their special teams and right now, their first power-play unit is struggling with the second unit carrying them recently, most notably Justin Brazeau who scored two man-advantage goals against the Senators on March 19 in a win at the TD Garden.

“Our second unit has probably scored 8 of our last 10 power play goals,” said Montgomery. We’ll watch the film and get better.”

Some of the same old problems have once again haunted the top unit with zone entries, puck possession, over passing and not getting a lot of shots on the net haunting them. Teams are starting to take David Pastrnak away and when that happens, they need someone else to step up.

Bruins Hit the Road for a Lengthy Trip

When the schedule was released, the Bruins knew that they were going to be in for a tough late-March road trip and here we are. With the Hockey East semifinals and finals being held at the TD Garden March 22-23 and then the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament taking over from March 28-30, Boston will begin a six-game road trip against the Flyers on March 23.

The final five stops are going to be big ones against the Florida Panthers (March 26), Tampa Bay Lightning (March 27), Washington Capitals (March 30), Nashville Predators (April 2) and Carolina Hurricanes (April 4). The Black and Gold begin the trip with a three-point lead over Florida for the top spot in the division and this trip could determine whether or not they finish first or second come playoff time.