The Bruins season is in full swing. During a game earlier this week, the 3rd goal during the second period was what sparked the Bruins victory over the Lightning who are currently one standing ahead of the Bruins in the Eastern division. Tuukka Rask made 30 saves with Jimmy Hayes who scored his first goal in 36 games to help the Bruins end a 3 game losing streak. In addition, Dominic Moore and David Backes also scored to move the Bruins to 12-10-0 on the season. With Pastrnak adding his 13th goal of the season in the third period, it is obvious the Bruins have some offensive struggles.  With the pick up of center Dominic Moore from the Rangers, he was not expected to be a goal scorer for the team this season but his 6 goals and 3 assist is second on the team.

The Bruins got a piece of good news on Sunday morning the 27th as captain Zdeno Chara skated on his own at the TD Garden prior to the matinee showdown between the B’s and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Chara was off to his most fluid start in years with a goal and six points along with a plus-12 rating in 19 games. Though has averaged a team-high of 22:41 of ice time for the Bruins, he was paired with rookie Brandon Carlo forming a very effective shutdown top pairing. Chara missed each of the last three games, a pair of losses to Ottawa and Calgary and Sunday afternoon’s 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, since suffering a lower body injury in the second period of Tuesday night’s loss to the St. Louis Blues.

There is no timetable for his return, but it’s clear given their recent tailspin that they need their 39-year-old No. 1 D-man as a stabilizing force while the team goes through a massive, team-wide offensive slump outside of scoring machine David Pastrnak.

With Columbus leading within the wild card race, our own black and gold are 3rd and currently out of the playoff picture down by 1 point to the New Jersey Devils. Only the top 2 teams get wild card spots. Though it is really early in the season, the Bruins have a long way to go to fix some of the outstanding problems within the team.

-All Statistics come from bruins.nhl.com