In face of criticism, Bruins’ Kaberle knows he can contribute more
Kaberle/By S. Bradley
BOSTON — Tomas Kaberle is showing some signs of life.
He’s recorded an assist in each of the Bruins’ last two games, both wins, in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, which they lead three games to two over Montreal.
But there should still be more coming from Kaberle, who was brought in in early February to improve the Bruins’ puck-moving and power play.
Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli said as much last week when he went on a local sports radio show and explained that he expected more from Kaberle. The veteran defenseman totaled just 1-8-9 in 24 regular-season games with Boston and didn’t record a point in the first three games of Boston’s series with the Canadiens.
In the aftermath of his contributing an assist in the Bruins’ dramatic 2-1 double-overtime win last night, Kaberle was asked about Chiarelli’s criticism and how he took it.
“I always put a lot of pressure on myself and hopefully I can prove why I’m here and why I would like to help out with every little thing I can do out on the ice,” he said at TD Garden, where a few Bruins stopped by to chat on a day off. “Obviously, I’m one of the guys on the PP and it would be nice to get something going there.”
The Bruins are the only team out of the 16 NHL clubs that hasn’t scored a power-play goal. Boston is 0-for-15. Even some recent alignment alterations haven’t helped Boston’s man-advantage.
Head coach Claude Julien and his staff has made some tweaks to its even-strength lineup, first by pairing Kaberle with rookie Adam McQuaid and then by limiting Kaberle’s ice time. In Game 4, he only logged 15:01 and in the double-OT game he skated just 21:10.
The less time might be the best way to maximize Kaberle’s skills and limit his costly errors. That might not make him worth the big bucks he’s expected to get in the summer as an unrestricted free agent, but for the Bruins’ cause right now it could be just enough to squeeze a significant contribution out of him.
Wake up you stupid —– and start playing for the Bruins not the other team u make me wanna puke
Seidenburg is better paired with Chara than Kaberle and I think the problem with Seidenburg is that while he often does some really big things-the right hit at the right time and the man blocks shots like a beast, he has lapses as well. Kaberle has too many lapses so that neither of them does well covering for the other and they both look terrible.
I do wonder if the pressure to perform is keeping him from performing and I also wonder if our players are overly relying on him to perform as well.
When we got a power play in the last game we were like “can we decline the penalty please, we would rather stay 5 on 5?”
We take too many shots from the point. He should be finding guys down low or making the slap pass. Those shots from the point are rarely successful. It is no coincidence that a team that relies so so so heavily on point shots has not scored
^^^ this. kabby needs to get greedy on the pp.
Kaberle needs to step into one n let one go once he pots one he’ll play much better. I still say Tomas can’t shoot for the forwards as well as give them sweet passes.
He looks tight. If a puck can bounce on him it will. I supported getting him here. I give the staff credit for cutting back his minutes. Maybe if the B’s can move forward he can relax and help out the other D guys with some quality 5 on 5 play. Seidenberg looked good with Z. I know everyone does but he skated with the puck and made some forays.