Ups and Downs: West Coast Trips Have Been a Mixed Bag for Bruins
Over the past five seasons, west coast trips have been both a stumbling block and a boost for the Black and Gold.
The Bruins began a four-game west coast swing on Monday with a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks. The Bruins jumped ahead 1-0 early, but then allowed the next three goals of the game to start the journey out west on the down side.
This road trip, which lasts through Dec. 6, takes the Bruins through Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Arizona. By the time they return to the TD Garden to face the Blackhawks on Dec. 11, the B’s will have completed over a third of their regular season schedule, having needed to dig themselves out of a hole after a poor start to the year.
Now it’s time to see how this current Bruins team handles the western jaunt. Let’s take a look at how the Bruins have recently fared following this trip.
In 2009-10, the B’s went 1-1-1 on a three-game trip to Anaheim, San Jose, and Los Angeles, which ended on Jan. 16. The Bruins entered a brutal stretch following their return from California, losing their next nine games – only two of which were on the road.
The team finished with the No. 6 seed in the playoffs that year, beating the Buffalo Sabres in the opening round before their historical collapse against the Philadelphia Flyers in the conference semifinals.
In 2010-11, the Bruins only made a short trip out to the western US, traveling to Colorado and Los Angeles, where they beat the Avalanche and Kings in the last week of January before heading home. The Bruins went 4-4 over the next eight games before a seven-game win streak that took them into March.
The Bruins won the Northeast Division that season and beat the Canadiens, Flyers, Lightning, and Canucks en route to the team’s first Stanley Cup title in 39 years.
The B’s didn’t travel to California until late March in 2011-12, but came back with six more points than when they left after sweeping San Jose, Los Angeles, and Anaheim in three straight games. After returning home, the Bruins went 5-1-1 over their final seven games and entered the playoffs with as No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The playoffs were not kind to the defending Stanley Cup champs, as the B’s saw their title defense end with a seven-game loss to the Washington Capitals in the opening round.
The Bruins were scheduled to take a west coast swing from Jan. 31- Feb. 4 in 2012-13, before a lockout stalled the start of the season until Jan. 2013. Facing a shortened calendar, the NHL ditched interconference play for the abbreviated season. The Bruins would finish the year fourth in the Eastern Conference and advance to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Bruins got back to playing everyone in 2013-14, and took their California swing the second week of January, losing in Anaheim and Los Angeles before salvaging the trip with a 1-0 win in San Jose. The B’s went 8-2-2 going into the Olympic break, before going on a 15-1-1 tear through the month of March.
The B’s finished with the best record in the NHL last season, winning the Presidents’ Trophy, but that did not translate to postseason success, as they were eliminated by the Canadiens in the second round of the playoffs.
With injuries to Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, and Adam McQuaid still leaving the Bruins’ lineup as a bit of a revolving door, this west coast swing will not make or break the Bruins season. But a few wins out west can give the B’s a much-needed lift going into the middle third of their 2014-15 campaign, needing to make up ground on the Lightning, Canadiens, and Red Wings in the race for the Atlantic Division.
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