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Boston Bruins: On target for a record-breaking season through 11 games

By Luke Ryan

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 27: Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on October 27, 2019 in New York City. The Bruins defeated the Rangers 7-4. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 27: Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on October 27, 2019 in New York City. The Bruins defeated the Rangers 7-4. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 26: Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) makes sure the puck goes high of the goal during a game between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues on October 26, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – OCTOBER 26: Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) makes sure the puck goes high of the goal during a game between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues on October 26, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

What about the goaltending and team performance?

Beyond the point scoring, the other dominant players in the Boston Bruins current run of form have been both goaltenders. Tuukka Rask earns the plaudits more so, given a league-leading 0.952 save percentage and averaging just 1.48 goals against per game.

If he maintains the same pace with shut-outs, given he’s blanked the opposition in a third of the games he’s played thus far, we’re looking at 15 shut-outs for the year. Since expansion from the ‘Original Six’, only Tony Esposito of the Chicago Blackhawks has managed such a number, doing so in the 1969-70 season.

In fact, to even top 10 shut-outs in a season would be quite remarkable, given that only Henrik Lundqvist, Jonathan Quick and Marc-Andre Fleury have managed to do so since 2010.

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Finally, onto the team itself; our current points pace has us taking 1.63 points from every game we play. To be slightly less obscure, that is we’ve taken at least one point in 10 of the 11 games we’ve played this season.

If we maintain that sort of pace, we’re looking at a 134 point year, which would out-do the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 128 point year last year and see us improve by a margin of 27 points on last year’s final tally.

It’d be wrong to think we can maintain this pace though, as our goal-scoring total has us firmly in the middle of the pack right now. A lot of our current standing is made up on strong defensive play and an over-reliance on our top three forwards. If we can even these numbers out though, there’s no reason to suggest that records can’t be broken.

Next. Dominance of the top line is becoming a big problem. dark

Simple fact is that through eleven games this year, the Boston Bruins have been nigh on unstoppable.

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