Julien on Bruins' performance against Senators: 'We were soft'

The Boston Bruins, a staple in the playoffs for close to a decade, are starting to make their fan's twitch. 

They're currently grasping onto the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with the Ottawa Senators breathing down their necks.

The two squads locked horns in Ottawa on Thursday in a crucial contest that could end up being the difference maker on who earns their way into the postseason.

The Senators walked away with a 6-4 victory, moving closer to the Bruins, who hold a two point lead over their rival.

Bruins head coach Claude Julien spoke with the media after the contest and had some words about the performance of his team.

"When you get to those big games, you expect a lot more out of a lot of guys," Julien told Joe Haggerty of CSN. "We didn't get that tonight. When you look at the game, the feeling you get is that they wanted it more than you did."

It seemed like the Senators wanted the game more in the third period, as they held the Bruins scoreless, while Bobby Ryan scored the game winner and Kyle Turris buried an insurance goal on an empty net. 

“That's the other part that's disappointing. At one point you've got to look yourself in the mirror. ... Let’s stop pretending here, and start showing whether we want to, or not, be in a playoff spot," Julien said.

"We need a lot more from a lot of guys. That was a big need, and unfortunately we didn't get that.”

Boston's top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith were held to just one point and were a minus-8 when on the ice. 

“You've got to be able to play big in these big games," said Julien. 

"It starts on the first shift where we turn the puck over. We're very soft coming back to the net front and so they pounce on that loose puck (and score the game's first goal). We never found our good, solid defensive structure. I don't know how many times they got to loose pucks around the net area, and we just weren't strong enough there."

Strength, both physically and mentally, has been one of the Bruins' greatest assets in some of their long playoff runs of the past, so they'll need to find it to not only hold onto their postseason spot, but do some damage if they get there. 

“We were soft, and we allowed them to play in front of the net. Because of that we allowed them to win a hockey game.”