from Scott Burnside of ESPN,

It's still a bit jarring to look at the Atlantic Division standings and have to search all the way to the fourth spot to find the Boston Bruins. But, that's exactly where the Bruins are after Monday's 3-2 loss in Anaheim that kicked off a four-game west coast trip.

The Bruins began the season in salary cap hell, having to off-load solid defender Johnny Boychuk who is now thriving for the New York Islanders. Then there were injuries to the blue line including the loss of captain Zdeno Chara. Still, not so long ago the Bruins had won eight of 10. However, Monday's loss, in which they launched 34 shots at Ducks netminder Frederik Andersen, is their third loss in the last four outings (one was in overtime).

With Montreal and Tampa Bay both winning Monday and Detroit on fire, the preseason notion that the Bruins would somehow automatically find themselves at or near the top of the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference standings has yet to be proven true.

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