"The Bruins continued to eke out wins over the last few weeks, but it was pretty obvious to anyone who watched the games that the defending Stanley Cup champions were not playing at the same dominant level that marked their play during November and December.

A winning 7-5-1 record in the last 13 games masked the reality that the team defense and goaltending slipped. Not by all that much, but enough to give opponents a far better chance of winning.

As coach Claude Julien and many of his players have said frequently, when the Bruins don't execute their game plan properly — and when their compete level is sub-par — they become an average team."