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| Wednesday, February 16 | ||||||||||||
Special to ESPN.com | |||||||||||||
There's a fair amount of pressure this week, but it all seems to be on teams. Philly and New Jersey are great, but can they shake off past disappointments? In Boston, it may be unfair, but Pat Burns could be the fall guy. And, for mercy's sake, let's hope Atlanta wins this week.
There are a lot of similarities between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New Jersey Devils, and either team can win the Eastern Conference. They are even more alike in terms of their question marks rather than the makeup of their teams.
Pat Burns, one of the league's best coaches, has taken the chastisement from the Boston Bruins' ownership cordially and quietly in the press. But he continues to get closer and closer to becoming a scapegoat for the Bruins' problems. One recent poll in Boston showed that 64 percent believe it has been Burns' fault, but I don't agree. After the Florida-Boston game the other night, I watched his postgame press conference on a monitor in the press box. As the Bruins coach was being grilled with questions, he said he has made changes after each game, especially when they lose. He said he didn't know what else to do, and reiterated that point in several different ways. The effort hasn't been lacking, Burns said. They are not just going through the motions, and they are changing their attack. Burns and the players don't feel the Bruins have enough quality players to beat good teams, or maybe even make the playoffs. Will they pull something off? The Bruins don't have a lot to work with. It's a tough situation, with Jason Allison being injured, and now Anson Carter is hurt. It's become evident that the Bruins are at a crossroads. It's a huge hockey town; Boston fans won't take it lightly if they go into the tank and don't make the playoffs. Columbus and Minnesota, the two new franchises entering the NHL next year, must be alarmed at what they are seeing in Atlanta, especially over the last two months. Nashville did a nice job last year, winning a lot of games from the start. Over the last few years, new franchises in general have been able to make a good showing in the first year. But Atlanta has really struggled. The Thrashers haven't won a game since Jan. 14. When you go through an extended losing period, you really worry about how the young players will survive. How long will it take them or the team as a whole to recover? You feel bad for Atlanta. It's a tough growing pain right away. Meanwhile, you have to take your hat off to the Nashville players and the management for doing such a nice job. They created a positive atmosphere for the players last year and continue to do so this year. That's not a knock on Atlanta; the Thrashers tried to copy the Predators' atmosphere, and it hasn't worked as well. The Thrashers are trying everything. They have made some deals and shaken things up. They are doing the best they can to make things work. Beginning Tuesday in St. Louis, five of their next six games are on the road. That will probably help the Thrashers because there is no pressure. They will work on things like execution, goaltending and developing the young players. But it's tough to develop anybody on a steady diet of losing.
Brian Engblom is a hockey analyst for ESPN, and he played 11 seasons in the NHL. |