by By STEPHEN HARRIS , The Boston Herald

``A big rival, obviously, and hopefully it'll get the guys going in the right direction,'' winger Shawn Thornton said. ``We've been saying that for a little while now. Hopefully this will give us the spark we need.''

But the B's problem in getting shut out in their last two games, and scoring only three goals in their last four outings, hasn't been emotional. The effort has been fine.

It's the skill, the ability to make plays, that has been so weak. The B's just don't look like a very talented team right now. The defense and goaltending have been adequate, not great, but good enough to win games. But up front, there have been so many disappointments.

Patrice Bergeron has been the team's best forward. But the next-best guys have probably been fourth-liners Thornton and Steve Begin, and that is one damning testimony on David Krejci, Marco Sturm, Michael Ryder, Mark Recchi and Blake Wheeler, all of whom have failed to deliver what is expected, and needed, from them.

Krejci, especially, has let the B's down. This is a guy who last season was being compared to a young Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic. But the center looks bulkier and not as quick, and has produced only one goal and four assists in 14 games.

Considered such a strong power-play guy, Krejci has zero power-play goals or assists, a big reason the B's had fallen to last place in the NHL in that department as of yesterday. The Bruins have scored only six PPGs in 52 tries (11.5 percent), and four of those goals came in one game.

Krejci is coming back from major surgery, so maybe, at age 22, he gets a little slack. Sturm, returning from an injury-plagued season, was counted on to fill the most of the 36-goal void left by the departure of Phil Kessel but has just two. Recchi also has just two, while Ryder, as was the case early last year, is getting some chances but has found the net only three times. And Wheeler seems a little better lately, but there was plenty of room for improvement based on his poor play earlier.

The Bruins have plenty of hard-working grinders up front, but no high-end playmakers.

It's still early, but the big-picture numbers are not pretty, particularly in comparison to last season. Recall that the Bruins ranked second in the NHL in goals scored with 274 (3.34 per game) in 2008-09, while finishing first in goals-against average (2.29).

This year, the goals-against average is still pretty good at 2.53, but the goals-for is just 2.26.

Of course, it is hardly uncommon for teams to go through the sort of collective team slump the B's are experiencing.

``We're getting closer,'' defenseman Dennis Wideman said. ``We've just got to keep doing the same things, keep going, keep going. Eventually they have to go in.''

The key, all the players say, is to keep working and remain positive.

``We'll get through this,'' said Thornton. ``We'll get out of this. And when it turns around, it'll turn around big, I hope.''

Bruins notes

Winger Mikko Lehtonen was recalled on an emergency basis from Providence, where he had 3-7-10 totals and 25 penalty minutes in 11 AHL games.

Copyright 2009 Boston Herald Inc.
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.