Boston Bruins: Will Brad Marchand or David Pastrnak finish with more points?

Why Brad Marchand will finish with more points

Because Pastrnak pretty much scores every night, Brad Marchand’s impressive start to the season kind of flies under the radar.

Marchand sits only two points behind Pastrnak with 10 goals and 18 assists. While Pastrnak does so much damage on the power play, Marchand cleans up at even strength.

Through 16 games, Marchand has 19 even strength points. Eight of his 10 goals come from five-on-five play, so only two were on the power play.

Typically, even-strength production is more sustainable than power-play production. There’s no guarantee the Bruins will continue to average around three power play opportunities per game. This will help Marchand maintain consistency throughout the full season.

Part of the reason why Marchand is so productive at even strength is his puck possession. He always seems to have the puck on his stick when he’s on the ice. And when he has the puck, Marchand rarely loses it.

Here’s an example from last week’s win against the Penguins:

Evgeni Malkin attacks Marchand at the blue line, but Marchand cleverly maintains possession to set up Torey Krug for the game-tying goal.

Because he has the puck so much, Marchand consistently creates chances both for himself and his teammates. This won’t stop.

Since Marchand doesn’t rely on the power play as much for his production, there’s a great chance he will eventually overtake Pastrnak in total points at some point this season. If and when he does, Marchand won’t look back.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether Pastrnak or Marchand finishes with more points. All that matters is that both maintain their great play (and health!) throughout the regular season and into the playoffs.

But, for the sake of argument, Marchand’s the better-bet to end the season with more points because of his five-on-five play.