At least among fans, expectations for the 2021 Bruins don’t seem to be as high as they have been in recent years.
That’s understandable. After a great regular season last year, they went out with a whimper in the playoffs, losing in five games to the Lightning in the second round. Then they lost Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara in free agency and didn’t bring in anyone to replace them. Their biggest “splash” of the offseason was signing third-line wing Craig Smith -- a very good value signing, to be fair, but not exactly one that got fans fired up.
Bruins players aren’t buying the idea that this team will take a step back, though. Appearing on The Greg Hill Show Thursday morning ahead of Boston’s season-opener Thursday night, forward Sean Kuraly said the team’s goals are the same as always.
“We look at our team and we look at other teams and we think we’ve got the team we need to compete for a Stanley Cup,” Kuraly said. “That’s always our focus. The expectations are always high. I think that’s why guys love it here. We want to win.”
Kuraly said the Bruins still have great leadership in new captain Patrice Bergeron and alternate captains David Krejci and Brad Marchand, and that other guys, including himself, are ready to step up and take on bigger roles on and off the ice.
“I think you guys know the guys that have been here forever in Bergeron and Marchand and Krejci. I think we just lean on those guys and look to them for leadership,” Kuraly said. “Now guys like myself and a few others that have been around for a few years try to step up and do a little bit more also. I think it’s easy to follow them and follow their lead. The focus for us is to just play our game.”
With the 2021 season shortened from 82 to 56 games, Kuraly and the Bruins know that getting off to a good start will be key, especially given the turnover on defense.
“I guess the games take on a little more importance when you’re playing 56 instead of 82. I think the emphasis right now is, get off to a good start,” he said. “You can’t make the playoffs early in the season, but you can put yourself in a tough spot. So I think our focus right now is to do what we always do. We have a good game plan, we have good players. If we just play our game, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We think we’re a good team.”
Aside from the turnover on defense, one other question at least among fans is how much the team can trust goalie Tuukka Rask after he opted out of the playoffs to take care of a family emergency. As other Bruins players have done all along, Kuraly said the team has full confidence in Rask.
“I think the whole situation is really behind us. It’s something Tuukka wanted to put behind him and we wanted to put behind us,” Kuraly said. “We were totally in support of Tuukka doing what he needed to do for his family. Obviously their health and safety was the most important thing.
“I shoot on Tuukka every day in practice and I still can’t score on him, so my confidence in him goes up every single day,” Kuraly added. “I wish I could get a couple more by him, but obviously we’re happy to have Tuukka. We think he’s one of the best goalies in the league year in, year out. And he shows us every day in practice why that’s the case.”