Though the Boston Bruins finally won a hockey game Tuesday to snap a three-game skid, but the victory did nothing to improve the team's standing in last week's aggregated NHL power rankings released that day by Real Clear Sports. Out of the 30 teams in the NHL, the Bruins were ranked an astonishing 28th after beginning their Stanley Cup title defense with an uninspiring 2-7-0 start prior to Tuesday's win over Ottawa.
ESPN dropped the Bruins from 20th to No. 29 in their Oct. 30 rankings and called Boston's early performance both "gruesome" and "desultory," a word I did not previously know, but have since learned to mean "disappointing in progress, performance or quality."
On Oct. 31, Fox Sports dropped the Bruins eight spots to No. 26 and cited the Bruins "sloppy" play and tendency to earn penalties as the reason for the team's poor performance. Meanwhile, Canada's TSN was the outlet most kind to the Bruins, dropping them seven places to "only" No. 22. TSN named David Krejci as one of a number of Bruins that needs to improve his play for the team to turn things around.
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