Through almost 20 games, you’d be crazy to say that you have the perfect read on what this Boston Bruins squad is going to be following the 82nd game of the year. It’s why they play the games, and why I just used that cliche. Through 20 games, OK-- 19, we’ve seen flashes of brilliance from the Black-and-Gold. And we’ve seen other things that make us (or have made us wanna) scream.
Like I’ve said from day one, I don’t think the pure talent of this B’s squad has ever been in question.
This is the best team (on paper) that coach Claude Julien’s ever coached here.
That’s something that I think can be reassuring and scary all at the same time. As a fan, you never ever want to think that your club is incapable of failing due to their talent. That’s because, more often than not anyways, those teams are victimized by that hype around their name, and ousted earlier than anticipated, typically by the better team. See: the 2012-13 New York Rangers and post-deadlined 2013 Pittsburgh Penguins. At the same time however, sometimes the best team is well.. just the best team out there, like last year’s Chicago Blackhawks were. It can be a dangerous mindset -- or one that leads to an attitude that leads to (seemingly) improbable comebacks.
Now, a quarter way through the 2013-14 of the year and with the grind of this season about to hit this squad, you can bet your bank account that you’ve seen both sides of this Boston club’s brain.
Take a look at a three-day stretch for the Bruins back in late October.
In a Thursday night battle with the league-best San Jose Sharks, the B’s found a way to battle back despite being kicked around by San Jose for most of the night, and scored (and won) behind a David Krejci goal with just 00:00.8 seconds left in the third period. Read as: Finding ways to win a game you have no business winning. Then, on a Saturday night showdown with the New Jersey Devils, the Bruins struck for three first period goals, but completely collapsed, surrendering four power-play goals en route to an unlikely 4-3 loss to the Devils. The Devils.
Obviously, losses to (with all due respect) inferior clubs aren’t uncommon over the course of an 82-game season, but the manner in which the B’s dropped games to the Devils, New York Islanders, and Dallas Stars caused concern. They were sluggish, slow, and quite honestly -- lazy.
You just don’t say that about Julien’s squads.
If the Black-and-Gold accomplish anything worth printing on a t-shirt, it’s through hard work and battling in all three zones. It’s not through just showing up and going through the motions.
Over the course of the Bruins’ 19 games this year, you’ve seen these bad habits even out if you will, ultimately leaving Boston with a 12-6-1 record, good for second in the Atlantic Division.
But how has the team looked on a line by line basis?
Forwards
Up front, there hasn’t been a line that’s performed better and on a more consistent basis than the club’s top line featuring David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and the 36-year-old Jarome Iginla. It’s actually become rather amazing to see what this group has done and how straight up dominant they’ve been in the attacking zone in 2013 and in just 19 games together.
When they have the puck in the attacking zone? Well, grip your stick real tight, because you’re in for a long shift in your own zone. Time and time again, the 17-46-12 combo has proven themselves to be an absolute force when they have the puck, leading to a team-best 15 goals as a line.
“We just got back to supporting one another and moving the puck better and our transition game has been better and we’re coming up the ice again as a five man unit and I think when we got into that skid and that funk that was the main thing that got away from us is that we were trying to play too much as individuals instead of a team game,… winger Milan Lucic said last week. “We’re getting back to that and I think there’s still room for improvement to where we want to be and we have to stay on ourselves and stay on each other to keep getting better.…
The best news of all? Iginla, a first year Bruin, has looked more than comfortable, and has been a completely adequate replacement for Nathan Horton. You could even go as far to say that Iginla’s been an upgrade over Horton from a consistency standpoint, really.
First line grade: A.
Below the Krejci line, the same success hasn’t come as easily for the club’s second line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and Star-turned-Bruin Loui Eriksson. In fact, it’s been the complete opposite for this (primarily) snakebitten trio. For the most part, anyways.
Through the first ten games of the year, the 5-foot-9 Marchand had one goal and three points. Eriksson, a former 30-goal scorer, recorded just two goals in eight games before a John Scott headshot knocked him out of commission. Luckily, both wingers have woken up from their dry spells, recording a combined four goals and nine points in their last five contests.
Bergeron, on the other hand, has been his usual self, recording six goals and 11 points in 19 contests this year, pacing him for yet another workmanlike 25-goal, 50-point campaign.
But here’s where fans have reason to be upset with this line: Unlike Bergeron, who suffered a litany of injuries during last year’s playoffs, Marchand and Eriksson don’t necessarily have a built-in excuse for their slow starts. Marchand arrived into camp in great shape, but didn’t look like somebody that wanted to work for his goals in 2013 at the start. Eriksson, despite a strong preseason, didn’t look comfortable in a Boston sweater, and left an absolute ton to be desired.
Obviously, it’s tough to harp on this line given how well they’ve played over their last five games, but the start from this trio (particularly on the wings) certainly seemed to drive more people crazy.
Second line grade: C.
For the 2012-13 Bruins, the third line was an absolute disaster. You could actually make the case that it was their downfall at the end of the day, too. Whether it was due to the lack of production from Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley, the lack of a legit weapon on the wing to begin the year (the Chris Bourque project lasted 18 games too many), or whatever else you wanna point a finger towards, it was an absolute nightmare to watch for 48 games last season. Period.
This year? Not. At. All.
It’s hard to picture a situation where the 32-year-old Kelly returns to his 20-goal level of 2011-12, especially with Kelly tallying just three in the first 19 games of this season, but there’s no doubt that his linemates this time around have provided he and the rest of the club with the perfect element of secondary scoring and versatility. And that’s simply invaluable for a depth-based club like the B’s.
If you ask me, the 28-year-old Carl Soderberg has been as strong as advertised. Given his road to the NHL, and in just his first full season in North America, the B’s will take his big presence, and 1-5-6 totals through 13 games this year. And then Reilly Smith, a quiet piece on the Seguin blockbuster this summer, has been an absolute delight on the B’s roster, recording two goals and 11 points this year, tying him for fourth on the club.
Third line grade: B.
It’s been the job of the game’s best fourth line -- Danny Paille, Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton -- to provide the B’s with the ‘energy’ and momentum that can change a game. Through a fight, strong shift, or up tempo attack, they do it all.
Well, they’re supposed to, anyways. “Everyone knows we’re not going to capitalize every day but I think we feel pretty happy about the effort we had as a group and as a line,… Paille said last week.
Going back to that first point, Paille’s right-- They haven’t capitalized every night. For whatever reason, the fourth line has gotten off to a slow start, led by Campbell, who in his 17th game of the season, finally got on the board with a point.
“As our line and our group, we definitely feel like our game is coming around. I think that little stretch there, we had a little wake up call, and hopefully we don’t have too many of those in the year,… Paille added. “But we talked as a team and realized that we need to be better, especially defensively, and I felt that everyone, these past few games, have been really solid defensively and it showed against Toronto and against Tampa too.…
At the end of the day, that’s really all you can ask of this group given their skill-set, and with the club expected to jump into the thick of things from here on out, they’ll need more of the efforts they put on display against the Atlantic’s top tier clubs in Tampa Bay and Toronto.
Fourth line grade: C+.
Defense
The Bruins’ defense broke down on them in the Stanley Cup Final last season.
There. We said it. We acknowledged it. Now let’s move on.
Picked apart by the Blackhawks’ skill players in the latter stages of the fourth round, and paving the way to three straight losses, there was no player that appeared to skate with more exhaustion to his name than the 6-foot-9 captain of the B’s, Zdeno Chara. The towering Slovak and face of the franchise, Chara was a beast much like he was in 2011, but at 36 years old, it’s simply not feasible for the B’s to force Big Z to log those minutes for 82 games and a full playoff run.
At this stage of Chara’s career, insanely well conditioned or not, it’s just not practical.
But with one switch to the front of the net on the man-advantage and Chara’s looked like a man ready to conquer the world one goalie screen at a time. Striking with three goals (all on the power-play) and seven points this season, Chara’s ability to hang down low and battle in the corners on the power-play has lessened his d-zone burden, allowing him to shave about two to three minutes off his nightly workload with chases down deep into the zone to retrieve pucks. This, in turn and just as expected, has let Chara be as mean as ever in his zone, and remain an elite fixture in front of Rask.
Behind Chara, what you see is what you get when it comes to the play of experienced B’s defenders Johnny Boychuk, Dennis Seidenberg,and Adam McQuaid while Matt Bartkowski has become a reliable option in the event of an injury striking the point.
However, it’s been the play of two young guns, Torey Krug and Dougie Hamilton, that’s left a positive impression on this team’s puck-moving abilities in 2013 and beyond.
Drafted by the B’s in the first round in 2011, the transition into the NHL was a rough one for Hamilton. But as an early season kick in the behind with a healthy scratch found Hamilton watching from the press box, a return to the ice brought the 6-foot-4 blue-liner’s promise out in front of the Hub’s eyes for the first time in what felt like almost a full calendar year. The word: He’s good. Real good. Since his benching, Hamilton’s decision making has been unbelievably strong, and his puck-possession has been an absolute treat for the Bruins’ resurgent second power-play unit.
Recording three goals and six points in 17 games this year, Hamilton’s emerging as a legitimate NHL defensemen capable of logging top-four minutes without much of a headache for the defense-first Julien, with the proverbial safety net slowly but surely being lifted off Hamilton’s game.
Meanwhile, Krug, the 22-year-old that arguably pushed the B’s into the Eastern Conference Finals with his shot alone, has picked up right where he left on in the 2013 playoffs. Sniping home six goals and 12 points in 19 contests, Krug has been the straw that stirs the lethal drink known as the Bruins’ first power-play unit. His shot has made taking Chara off the point a logical idea for Julien, and his ability to join the rush has become a weapon teams have to gameplan for. In the blink of an eye, the undersized Krug could be on the wing, in front of the net, and then celebrating yet another tally.
It’s a talent the Bruins simply haven’t had with Julien behind the bench.
Matt Hunwick? Please. Steven Kampfer? Haha. Come on. Dennis Wideman? That’s a stretch.
At the same time though, Krug’s a player whose love for the offensive game has led to the Bruins having to manage his minutes in a safe manner. You’ll never see Krug paired with a fellow rookie if they have the choice, and he won’t touch the ice in the closing minutes with the team in need of a big defensive zone stop. His giveaways, like the one you saw in Ottawa this past Friday, are a natural blemish on his game, but it’s the attacking zone upside that’s made him downright filthy for the B’s.
Defense grade: B.
Goaltending
There’s a sign in the Bruins locker room that reads, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.… It’s also what goaltender Tuukka Rask’s mask should read.
After a dynamite playoff run with the B’s last spring, the 26-year-old Rask hasn’t slowed down a bit, posting a .943 save percentage with 10 wins in just 16 starts this season. In fact, you could make the case that Rask has been the only consistent component of the Black-and-Gold’s roster this season. Currently fourth in the entire league in both goals against average (1.68) and save percentage (.943), there’s been no starter that’s become more of a brick wall in the entire East than Rask. Period.
It’s early, no question, but Rask’s early season play is eerily similar to that of the 2010-11 season of Tim Thomas, which as you know, ended with Thomas posting the game’s best single-season save percentage and a Stanley Cup parade in the City of Boston.
Now, let me stop you before you torch me: I don’t think that after 19 games the Bruins are going to be Stanley Cup champions, but with a goaltender playing as well as Rask has from both a positioning and durability standpoint, it’s hard to say that the B’s aren’t favorites in the Atlantic and beyond.
Behind Rask, the club’s biggest question mark, Chad Johnson, has been economic.
And that’s why he’s in Boston in the first place. Johnson was an affordable option over Anton Khudobin, and while he hasn’t been as strong as Khudobin was in 2012-13, he’s gotten the job done two out of three times, which is a realistic expectation for a backup in Boston’s system.
“[Johnson]’s probably had the toughest job on our team so far obviously with Tuukka [Rask] playing the way that he had and becoming a league goaltender. He’s getting almost all the starts and having to come in like that and play big for us is huge,… Lucic said on Thursday. “You need games like that out of your goaltenders and it was great to see him get rewarded with the big win.…
In three games, Johnson’s posted a .917 save percentage, and has turned out back-to-back 30-save performances, with Oct. 23’s dud against Buffalo (a 14-save win, oddly enough) sticking out as the 27-year-old’s lone weak performance this season.
Goaltending grade: A.