Don't freak out yet: reinforcements are on the way

It’s not time to hit the panic button.

Everything is still relatively new for the Bruins, and it doesn’t help that the lineup Bruce Cassidy envisioned hasn’t come to fruition yet because of injuries to key players, including Patrice Bergeron, David Backes and Noel Acciari. The team balance and structure is a bit off, which is frustrating for the 2-3-0 Bruins. It’s maddening for upper management, the coaching staff, players and for the fans.

Cassidy indicated after Tuesday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena that it’s possible that both Bergeron (lower body) and Backes (diverticulitis) could return to the lineup against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday at TD Garden. The pair of veteran forwards has missed all five games to begin the season.



When and if Bergeron and Backes return, the roster will nearly be close to complete and that should jumpstart the team.

“We haven’t achieved a level we like,” Cassidy said. “We’re not hiding behind that and we want to be better than what we are right now, but there are challenges and we’re trying to face them head-on every day.”

Facing this type of early adversity has a chance to speed up the developmental process for the rookies on the team. The veteran core appeared frustrated after each of the three losses so far. The all-around performances have been too inconsistent.

“We knew going in with the youth movement we would have some ups and downs and we’ve had both,” Cassidy said. “We’ve had some really strong games. We’ve had other games where there’s a learning curve in the NHL.”

The team hasn’t been able to execute the game plan, which was the case on Sunday when the Bruins lost to the Vegas Golden Knights and Malcolm Subban.

During that game, Cassidy wanted a relentless offensive attack against Subban. The Bruins knew the former prospect would have trouble with second and third scoring chances. But Boston failed to execute that plan and lost 3-1.

After the game, Tuukka Rask aired what seemed to frustration towards his teammates for the early lack of success and support, but the veteran goalie explained his reasoning behind his comments after Tuesday’s practice.

“You lose games and you’re not happy with your performance. I responded the wrong way with me being mad at my teammates, which is definitely not the case,” Rask said. “You lose games and you hold yourself accountable and you want to talk about your performance and what you need to do to get better, so that’s where I was coming from. I definitely wasn’t mad at our team, or mad at myself, so that’s that. You always try to give a fair assessment about the game, but the biggest thing at this point I need to worry about, and everybody else needs to worry about, is how we get better.”

Having Bergeron and Backes in the lineup will help. During Tuesday’s practice, Bergeron was back with Brad Marchand and Anders Bjork. Backes was on the line with Riley Nash and Tim Schaller. Once the Bruins have their best possible lineup intact, Bergeron believes the team will turn things around.

“The potential is high,” he said. “We have a great mix of young and older players that bring unique things to the table and we feel this team can keep getting better and hopefully we can create some more chemistry and more cohesion on the ice and keep building something.”

Backes said it hasn’t been fun to watch games on TV and explained his pain was so severe he couldn’t stand up straight and wasn’t allowed to exercise for a week. He was also on an all-liquid diet and he lost 10 pounds in the process. While the team was on the road, Backes began skating and working out to regain his strength and endurance.

Listen, the Bruins are no different than any other team in the league when it comes to adversity and injuries. Every team goes through stretches like this at some point during the season. For Boston, if its lineup was balanced, the record could be better at this point.

“We’d like to have our full complement (of players). Some of the guys that are missing, and some of the games that got away from us, those guys are glue guys that would’ve added that element to keep us on the rails without the game getting away,” Cassidy said.

“Other nights you lose guys in your lineup where you just need offense, or hard defending, but (we’ve lost) some of our leadership. . . there’s been a couple of games where a few good shifts could’ve either got us back on track and those are some of the strengths we really miss. To be 100-percent healthy in this league is tough but we’d love to be there.”

The Bruins just returned from a 1-2-0 road trip, but they play the next four games on home ice. Maybe sitting Bergeron and Backes for at least one more game couldn’t hurt too much to make sure both are as close to fully healed as possible. A team would rather have those veterans miss only a few games instead of returning too soon and suffering a setback.

It’s only five games into the season and others need to step up and not simply wait for reinforcements.

“It falls on the core group to be solid and consistent every night, but then you lose a bit of that core group and then you need your support players to contribute, so we’re battling through all of that,” Cassidy said.