Bobby Mushkin, @bmushkincourant
March, 2020
The date is March 12th, 2020. The NHL regular season is waning down to its last month and playoff anticipation fills the crowded arenas. You’re filled with utter excitement with the prospect of seeing your favorite team lift the coveted trophy that all players, coaches, and fans marvel at. The games are growing with intensity, the rivalries growing with ferocity. And if you’re a Boston Bruins fan, you are riding high. The Bruins sit at 44-14-12, 100 points; atop the league standings by a long shot.
The Bruins looked poised to avenge their Stanley Cup Finals loss a year ago. The expectations of anyone affiliated with the Bruins, fans and players alike, is to bring the Stanley Cup back to Boston for the first time since 2011. The Bruins are the hottest team in the league and the combination of their lockdown defense and their stellar goaltending has propelled them to be virtually unbeatable in regulation.
It looked like nobody was going to contend with the Bruins. But suddenly, the world stopped. A global pandemic put the whole world on halt, including the NHL season. The momentum and excitement in Boston turned into disappointment and uncertainty. The NHL was gone, and Bruins fans felt that chance of grabbing the Stanley Cup slowly slip away.
July, 2020
Fast forward to July 26th. The NHL and NHL Players Association has reached an agreement on a plan to resume the NHL season from bubbles in a hub city. Each team will play one exhibition game prior to the start of the playoffs. The top four teams in each conference will play a round robin, whichever team finishes first receives the number one seed, second place gets the two seed, and so on and so forth. The remaining teams will play a qualifying round in a best of five series. If your team was ranked number five in the standings, you play the number twelve team, continuing down the standings.
The NHL established that the regular season ended on March 12th, making the Bruins the Presidents Trophy winning team. But that was four and a half months ago, and Bruins fans know this is a whole new season. Anything that happened from October to March can be completely thrown out the window. It’s a new season and a fresh start. Bruins fans around the world were frustrated with the league for not giving the Bruins the one seed when they won the Presidents Trophy, but that changed nothing. If the Bruins wanted the one seed, they were going to have to win their way to it.
But the round robin did not go as the Bruins had hoped, they were outplayed and outperformed by all three teams. They struggled to score goals and finished 0-3, last out of all four teams. The Bruins went from being the number one team, to the number four team. They were set up to play against the five seed Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes looked scary good in the qualifying round, sweeping the Rangers in convincing fashion.
The Bruins turned up their defense after goalie Tuukka Rask opted out of the playoffs. The Bruins handled the Canes four games to one in a series that was closer than it looked. The Bruins won, but all Bruins fans were experiencing discomfort. The team looked OK, but the dominant team that was seen four and a half months ago, was nowhere to be found. The loss of Tuukka Rask was having a big impact on the number of goals the Bruins surrendered. Their offense was way too top heavy, even more than usual. The secondary scoring from the second, third, and fourth line was non-existent.
The Bruins went into the second round of the playoffs with a matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning looming. Tampa was a high powered team, with incredible goaltending, stout defense, and an explosive offense. Even before the series began, Bruins fans had the sense that the Bruins were just outmatched. And that feeling proved to be on point, the Lightning dominated the Bruins and beat them in five games. Another year with lofty expectations that ended with a devastating loss. But Bruins fans couldn’t help but wonder what if. What if the season hadn’t been suspended? The Bruins were the hottest team in the league and were just in a rhythm. But that didn’t matter, the deficient end to the season was a reality. The window for the Bruins to compete for a cup is closing, and Bruins fans don’t know if they’ll ever see a Stanley Cup from this team.
January, 2021
Now we are nearing the present. The date is January 14th, 2021. The air in the empty Prudential Center is filled with exhilaration and competitiveness. Bruins fans are filled with elation, thrill, and curiosity as their favorite team takes the ice for the first time in the 2021 campaign. It was a controversial offseason for this Bruins team, 14 year captain Zdeno Chara said goodbye to Boston and signed a one year deal with Washington. Star defenseman Torey Krug was not offered an extension by General Manager Don Sweeney and thus walked away from Boston. He signed an eight year deal with the rival St. Louis Blues. Rocket Richard winner David Pastranak, who scored 48 goals, is out until February while he continues to recover from hip surgery.
No doubt the Bruins were going to look different, but everyone was wondering how they would perform with their new look team. They faced the New Jersey Devils in Newark, the Devils being a young team looking to develop their roster this season. The Bruins scored two powerplay goals, and at the end of regulation the game was tied at 2. Overtime wasn’t enough to finish this one, and the game went into a shootout. Brad Marchand scored the winning goal in the shootout, capping off a two point game. The Bruins dominated play the entirety of the game, but young goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood was nearly impenetrable.
Two days later, the Bruins faced those same Devils in a Saturday afternoon game. Once again, regulation ended and the two teams were tied. This time, overtime was enough, Yegor Sharangovich received a beautiful pass from Damon Severson and potted a last second goal with 1.7 seconds left. The Bruins fell 2-1 and a theme was starting to arise.
On MLK day, the Bruins traveled to Nassau Coliseum to face the New York Islanders. The Islanders split their first two games with the New York Rangers, but their second game had a wrench put in it. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who shutout the Rangers in the prior game, took a puck to the throat in warmups. Varlamov was unable to play, and this changed the game completely. But he was back in the lineup against the Bruins, poised to play well in his return. The Bruins dominated play from the start, bombarding Varlamov with shots, spending most of the time in the offensive zone. But with five minutes to go, the game was still scoreless. With 4 minutes and 9 seconds remaining in the game, J.G Pageau knocked the puck out of mid air past Tuukka Rask to give the Islanders the 1-0 lead. The Bruins failed to put the puck in the net and suffered their first regulation loss of the season.
The Serious Struggle
The glaring issue in Boston is clear right now, through three games, the Bruins are seriously struggling to score goals. They have two powerplay goals and a shorthanded goal this year, meaning they have yet to score an even strength goal through their first three games. They are one of two teams that haven’t scored even strength this year, the Bruins, and the Dallas Stars. The Dallas Stars have yet to play a game. It’s unquestionable that the Bruins are struggling to score, but the real question is, is it time to panic now?
I say, not yet. There are a couple of reasons. First off, our best scorer is not playing. David Pastrnak is out of the lineup nursing a hip injury, he is expected to be out of the lineup until February. Pastrnak is coming off the best season of his career, leading the league in goals at age 24. Not having Pastrnak is a pretty big deal, he really helps out his linemates Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. Together, they form the so-called “perfection line.” That line was the most lethal trio in the league last season and they scored the majority of the Bruins goals.
When Pastrnak comes back, the Bruins will get a huge lift that should help with their scoring. But this isn’t an issue that gets fixed just by putting Pastrnak back in the lineup. Their scoring troubles were existent last year, ranking at 18th in even strength goals. That may not seem that bad, but for the Presidents Trophy winning team, that isn’t good. The Bruins have lacked scoring depth for a while now.
The Bruins made trades at the deadline last season to try and help with their lack of depth. They acquired Nick Ritchcie and Ondrej Kase from the Anaheim Ducks. This experiment didn’t prove to pan out, Ritchie and Kase combined for one goal in two total rounds of playoff hockey. The offseason was an excellent opportunity for the Bruins to address their scoring depth. They made one move, bringing in Craig Smith from Nashville. This was a great move, but won’t make a difference. They needed more, yet they failed to do so. So the inability to score is not that surprising. But it isn’t time to hit that panic button yet, because of a few reasons.
Inexperience
First off, the Bruins have been forced to implement a few rookies into the lineup this season. Players like Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lazoun, and Jack Studnika are all being thrown into a large role this season due to the loss of Chara and Krug, and the injury to Pastrnak. The Bruins are banking on these guys being NHL ready, and it’s going to take some time for them to settle into their roles. The defense hasn’t been joining the attack, something that helps with scoring, because the young guys are still figuring things out.
Team Structure
Secondly, there is no need to panic because the Bruins aren’t structured to be a team that will score 4 or 5 goals a game. That’s just not how they win games. Last year, the Bruins were dominant on the strength of their defense and goaltending. The tandem of Rask and Halak, and the swarming defense helped the Bruins finish first in goals against average. They don’t need to score 5 goals, that isn’t their game. This is a team that is built to withstand scoring slumps.
Dominant Play
Lastly, the Bruins may not be scoring at even strength, but they are completely controlling play. On Thursday against the Devils, they had a plus 15 advantage in shots on goal. On Monday, they outshot the Islanders by 10. The Bruins are playing well, their defense has been great along with their goaltending. They are dominating opposing teams, they just haven’t been able to score. But that’s what comes with playing sports. You’re going to go through periods where things just don’t bounce your way, but if you keep plugging away, the tide will turn in your favor. If the Bruins continue to play well, don’t get frustrated or let their lack of scoring get in their head, they will break through and start scoring.
So what can they do?
Something that would benefit them would be getting more pucks on net and getting more bodies to the net. Sometimes the Bruins forwards try to make the perfect pass, otherwise known as a “hope play.” Instead of trying to pass the puck into the net, shoot the puck and crash the crease. Most goals aren’t pretty passing plays with dirty one-time snipes. Majority of goals are scored by getting bodies to the net and looking for rebounds as a result of your screening of the goaltender. If the Bruins can get more pucks to the front of the net, they’ll most likely start potting even strength goals.
Goaltender Tuukka Rask was asked to comment on the Bruins scoring drought, Rask replied with, “It’s early in the season, and I think we’re playing really good. If we play that team defense throughout the year, we are going to win a lot of games. I know the offense will come. We just have to stick with it and not hang our heads.” Clearly Rask isn’t worried, and we shouldn’t be either.
2021 Expectations
This season should be full of grit and anger, the Bruins play their divisional rivals 8 times. Teams are going to get real familiar with each other. Hard hitting and hatred between two teams fuel the viewership of the NHL. Games will be extremely fun to watch, filled with fights and lots of checking.
The core of the Boston Bruins team is growing in age, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Tuukka Rask are 34. Brad Marchand sits at the age of 32. It’s been ten years since the B’s brought a Stanley Cup back to Boston. The window of the Bruins cup hopes is closing rapidly, and fans can sense it. Even after losing big players this offseason, the expectations for the Bruins remains the same. Bruins fans want another Stanley Cup, and anything less than that will be considered a let down.
Are the Bruins good enough to compete for a cup? Can they contend with the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning? Will their young defensemen step up in their new role? Will Don Sweeney make the right moves to strengthen the Bruins scoring depth? Bruins fans are all curious about these things, but all they can do is sit back and watch. It’s a new season and another year filled with championship hopes.
