Five takeaways from Bruins' performance at quarter point of 2021 NHL season
After a bit of a slow start, the Boston Bruins are one of the hottest teams in the NHL at the quarter point of the 2020-21 season.The B's are 10-2-2 through the first 14 games of this 56-game shortened schedule. They have 22 points, including a four-point lead over the Philadelphia Flyers for first place in the East Division.Let's take a look at five takeaways from the Bruins' performance at the quarter point. (All advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick).
The first line is again carrying the B's offense and performing at an elite level.
Brad Marchand is 100 percent healthy after offseason surgery and leads the team with nine goals and 18 points. Patrice Bergeron also has tallied 18 points, including a team-leading 11 assists. David Pastrnak has played in seven games since recovering from offseason surgery. He's posted 10 points (five goals, five assists).
This trio still makes up the best line in hockey. What about the rest of the group?
Nick Ritchie has been a nice surprise with 10 points -- seven coming on the power play. How sustainable is Ritchie's scoring? His shooting percentage is at a career high of 14.3 and he's nearly matched his career high of nine power-play points set in 2019. Don't expect Ritchie to score at a 0.71-points-per-game rate the whole season.
The Bruins have only five players with more than two goals through 14 games. Chris Wagner (two goals), Charlie Coyle (two), Sean Kuraly (two), Anders Bjork (one), Jake DeBrusk (zero) and David Krejci (zero) all need to find the back of the net more consistently.
Boston can dominate the regular season with one elite line and not enough secondary scoring. They've done this for the last couple years. The playoffs is where this typically falls apart. You can't rely on one great line to carry you to a championship. The Bruins need more production from the second and third lines to beat the best teams in the postseason.
The Bruins didn't score a 5-on-5 goal until the fourth game of the season. From that point to now, they are 10th in 5-on-5 scoring with 21 goals.
For the entire season, the B's rank No. 3 in shot attempt percentage and No. 2 in shots on net percentage at 5-on-5. However, they also rank 13th in scoring chance percentage and have tallied the sixth-fewest high-danger shot attempts at 5-on-5.
This all means the Bruins are controlling puck possession at a very high rate during 5-on-5 play, but they aren't generating enough high-quality looks at the net. So, it's no surprise they rank 24th in 5-on-5 goals scored.
We all remember 5-on-5 scoring being a major issue in the second-round playoff loss to the Lightning last season. The Bruins scored one even-strength goal in the last three games of the series -- they lost each matchup.
Boston isn't a terrible 5-on-5 team right now, but improvements still need to be made before the postseason.
Special teams have played a key part in the Bruins' early success. They are one of only two teams -- the Lightning are the other -- ranked inside the top eight in both power play and penalty kill percentage.
Boston's power play is converting on 27.3 percent of its opportunities, good for eighth-best in the league. Bergeron (nine points), Marchand (seven points) and Ritchie (seven points) are leading the way offensively with the man-advantage.
The Bruins' penalty kill has the second-best success rate at 88 percent. Boston's PK unit has the second-best shot attempt percentage and the second-most shorthanded goals.
Very good special teams have been an integral part of the Bruins' success for most of the Bergeron era, and that has continued into 2021.
The Bruins made the decision to not bring back longtime captain Zdeno Chara and instead give the younger defensemen a chance to earn a regular/larger role.
So far, these defensemen have stepped up.
Brandon Carlo: B's are plus-27 in shot attempts, plus-17 in shots and plus-3 in goals at even strength with Carlo on the ice. He's also been excellent on the penalty kill, where he's played 3:24 per game (second-most on the team).
Jeremy Lauzon: He leads the B's with 3:26 of PK time per game. Lauzon also is second in total ice time per game at 19:45, and the Bruins are plus-30 in shot attempts and plus-24 in shots on net at even strength with Lauzon on the ice. His offense is lacking a bit with three points in 14 games, but overall he's done well in a much larger role than last season.
Jakub Zboril: Similar to Lauzon, Zboril is not producing offensively with just two points in 14 games, but he's been a steady presence to far, and that's what the B's need from him on the third pairing. Nearly 65 percent of his even-strength zone starts are in the attacking end, but the ice is not being tilted the other way after he hops over the boards. The B's are controlling 55 percent of all even-strength shot attempts with Zboril on the ice.
Matt Grzelcyk: He's only played in six games, but he's looked good over that small sample size.
Charlie McAvoy: Don't be surprised if McAvoy finishes in the top five of Norris Trophy voting. He leads all B's defensemen with 11 points and plays nearly five minutes more per game than any of his fellow blueliners. Boston accounts for nearly 60 percent of all shot attempts and 56 percent of all scoring chances with McAvoy on the ice during even strength, and those are excellent numbers. He is an elite defenseman.
Even though we still have some concerns over the Bruins' scoring depth, the priority for general manager Don Sweeney at the trade deadline should still be acquiring a defenseman.
The young defensemen -- Lauzon, Zboril, Grzelcyk, etc. -- have fared better than anticipated, but the team still needs more experience and physicality on the blue line.
Charlie McAvoy also is the only Bruins defenseman with more than three points through 14 games. The blue line is not generating enough offense. Trading for a defenseman who can ignite the rush, create scoring chances on the power play and get pucks on net would be an ideal addition to this roster before the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
