The Bruins sit atop the NHL standings with a 12-1-2 document as we inch our approach towards Thanksgiving. Given all their key personnel losses, it’s gorgeous they’re only a level off the tempo they set final 12 months of their record-breaking 65-win season.
While many undoubtedly thought at this level final season their success fee was unsustainable – after which confirmed flawed – this 12 months’s fee of successful appears even much less more likely to proceed with out some marked enchancment of their defensive recreation.
The B’s are sometimes giving up as many — if no more – high-danger possibilities than their opponents.
The excellent news is that they’ve had the goaltending from Jeremy Swayman (.944 save share, 1.69 GAA) and Linus Ullmark (.928 save share, 2.23 GAA) to cowl up these blemishes. The dangerous information is they’re merely overly reliant on their goaltending to be super each night time with what they’re in a position to create offensively. They have but to win a recreation by which their opponent has scored greater than two objectives.
Coach Jim Montgomery has recognized one of many large culprits as being their rush protection. He’s talked about it for a lot of the season, together with after their most lopsided win in Buffalo on Tuesday. Though the scoreboard learn as a 5-2 blowout, Natural Stat Trick had the groups even in excessive hazard possibilities at 9 apiece.
Montgomery was cautious of this way back to the summer time when he knew he’d be dropping three centermen (Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Tomas Nosek) who have been nicely schooled within the B’s defensive system that depends so closely on its pivots.
After Wednesday’s apply, Montgomery outlined how the group can enhance within the space.
“It all starts in the offensive zone and the consistency of having (a third forechecker) on the strong side of the puck so that if things go awry — and you are going to lose possession, it’s a game of turnovers – then you have balance,” stated Montgomery. “It’s the D-men understanding when they can press up to hold the puck in the offensive zone in relation with that F3. That’s where it really starts. And then our two forwards who are low, they can’t get beat up the ice by people. Then when you get into the neutral zone and we just think, if they have possession, you can’t lose two people outside, because then the 3-on-3 or the 2-on-2 becomes a 2-on-1. We want to force plays by our blue line … it’s everybody working together. It’s more of a work progress than it was last year, but we had centers that had played a combined 35 years in the league last year. It’s just normal.”
Through 15 video games, the B’s have allowed 127 excessive hazard possibilities (ranked thirteenth within the league) whereas creating 135 (ranked sixteenth). Montgomery stated most of these likelihood is coming off the frenzy.
“We’ve given up more in the D-zone, but it really starts because we don’t kill plays as often as we used to, so we spend more time in our D-zone,” stated Montgomery. “It’s a little bit of a combination. But for us, the area of concern more – by a lot – is rush defense.”
Pasta cookin’
One motive past the goaltending for the B’s popping out on prime on most nights is the constant manufacturing from alternate captain David Pastrnak. After his three-point night time in Buffalo (1-2-3), he’s one level behind Vancouver’s Elias Petterson going into Wednesday’s video games for the league lead in factors and, with 11 objectives, he’s two off the league lead.
Given he’s needed to adapt to a left-handed centerman in Pavel Zacha for the primary time in his NHL profession – he’d performed primarily with righties Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci – his continued manufacturing is noteworthy.
“I don’t know who I was saying this to on the plane (from Buffalo), I think it was (GM) Don Sweeney, I thought that he would have a harder time producing without Bergy and obviously without Krech to work with,” stated Montgomery. “But I do know that in my year-end meeting with him, I said, ‘There’s going to be a lot more put on you next year’ because we figured they were moving on. He just looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, I’m expecting it. Don’t worry about it.’ That’s what he said to me. Now I don’t worry about it. He’s become more of a puck possession guy, and I think he realized that.”
Defense to offense
The B’s acquired two objectives from defensemen on Tuesday, however Montgomery desires to see his blueliners much more shot-minded than they’ve been. If there are forwards on the web, pound away, he stated.
“When there’s traffic at the net, and I think we have a team that’s doing a really good job this year by our forwards getting traffic at the net, the D-men need to be more selfish,” stated Montgomery. “It’s not because they don’t want to score goals, it’s just that we need to create more consistent habits of getting pucks to the net.”
Injury updates
Matt Grzelcyk (higher physique) is eligible to come back off LTIR for the B’s recreation towards the Rangers in New York on Nov. 25 and Montgomery expects him to be prepared for that recreation. That offers rookie Mason Lohrei 4 extra video games to make the membership’s determination to ship him again to Providence that rather more tough. If that call was upon them now, then the guess right here is that he’d be going to again to the AHL to play 20-25 minutes an evening in all conditions. … The coach stated Morgan Geekie (higher physique) is “at best” per week away. … There’s no timeline on Milan Lucic (decrease physique).
Source: www.bostonherald.com