Behind a young, inexperienced defense and some new blood up front, the Bruins jumped out to a 7-1-2 start, looking very similar to the Bruins teams we’ve seen have success in years past.
The youth in the lineup performed well, goaltending was great, and they got enough offense from usual suspects in Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak to win games.
But now, things are spiraling for the Bruins and their lack of secondary scoring, or scoring at all, is becoming a more magnified issue.
The Bruins are still getting great goaltending—except for Monday—and solid defense, both of which are keeping them in games. But their offense continues to be their biggest issue and a massive weakness in their game.
As we continue to sit and wait for players like Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci and Craig Smith to start chipping in with more secondary scoring, what if instead, it’s a matter of maybe this Bruins team is just not any good?
Let’s use Monday’s 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins as an example. It’s a game where the effort was there—enough effort to please head coach Bruce Cassidy. But even with a solid effort and a case of doing the little things right, they could only muster one goal.
Generating offense is great and all, you can’t score without generating offense, but that needs to ultimately lead to goals. Scoring chances and high-danger scoring chances look pretty in the stats column, but if those chances don’t translate to goals and then to wins, what’s it even matter?
"They generated enough to win the hockey game. You've got to finish— stating the obvious here. But I'm more concerned when you don't generate. That means you're not doing the right things to get the opportunities,… said head coach Bruce Cassidy. "You continue to generate, I believe there's enough talent in there to get enough goals. We're not gonna sit here and tell you we're gonna be one of the highest scoring teams until we get more finish and more confidence."
When you’re playing against the Bruins, the recipe for success is simple. Stay out of the penalty box and keep the damage done by the Bergeron line as minimal as possible.
The Bruins are scoring 1.98 goals per 60 minutes five-on-five, fourth lowest in all of the National Hockey League.
“If you can go through adversity, it builds character, and that’s something we’ve always been good with,… said Brad Marchand “We’re not panicking in our room, by any means. We always seem to bounce back, regardless. We had good game, a really good game, and if we continue to build on that, work like that each night, we’re going to be fine.…
Marchand is saying the right things and I believe that’s truly how he feels. Any player will tell you he has confidence in the group in the room. If he was saying the opposite, then oh boy, we would have a problem.
But the reality of the situation is that offensively, the Bruins are one-dimensional and while that helped get them to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2019 and a Presidents’ Trophy a season ago, it’s not working in a very tough division this season.
The Bruins had 67 shot attempts Monday, 43 of those landed on net.
“We definitely played the way we can, and we sustained it the whole game. Their first goal was a lucky one,… said Marchand. “We were hard to play against, didn’t turn many pucks over, creating havoc, playing tight in our zone, eventually you get that many shots, they’re going to go in the net.…
In the 201:18 of five-on-five ice time that Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak have skated together, the Bruins hold the edge in:
Shots attempts: 241-135 Shots on goal: 143-65 Scoring chances: 100-62 High-danger scoring chances: 39-27 Goals: 17-7
41% of the Bruins five-on-five goals have come with Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak on the ice.
Behind the Bergeron line, Cassidy has mixed up the remaining three lines as much as he physically can, opting for different line combinations or a nearly daily basis.
There’s only so far the Bergeron line, solid goaltending and a defensive core that despite being as banged up as they are, are holding their own can take you.