Boston Bruins: Why the power play will decide the match-up with Ottawa

The Boston Bruins absolutely demolished the Montreal Canadiens 8-1 on Tuesday night. What makes that victory even better? The Bruins get to follow it up immediately.

The Boston Bruins head (on a train!) to Ottawa and play the Senators on Wednesday. Back-to-back division matchups can be daunting, but fortunately Boston is on a hot streak right now.

That’s a good thing because the Senators, although most tagged them as the worst team in the NHL before the season, actually are pretty solid.

Ottawa is 11-12-1 on the season; not overly-impressive, but not bad either. The Senators find themselves close to .500, and this is all they could ask for at this point.

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The Senators boast an above-average defense, as they are 12th in the league in goals against. What Ottawa lacks, however, is offensive firepower. That really rears its ugly head on the power play.

Through the first 24 games of the season, Ottawa only converted 9.76% of its power play opportunities. The league average is 19.52%.

What’s with Ottawa’s power play? The issues come down to personnel, as the Senators simply don’t have a ton of talent or depth in the forward group.

Brady Tkachuk and Jean-Gabrel Pageau do well at even strength, but they don’t exactly light it up on the man advantage. Tkachuk only scored three of his 15 points on the power play. Likewise, Pageau only has two power play assists.

Pageau, in fact, has 11 even strength goals and two on the shorthand, but for whatever reason he cannot get it done on the power play.

The Bruins, on the other hand, come to town with one of the league’s best power play units. It helped them defeat Montreal, and the power play will prove to be the difference against the Senators.

David Pastrnak leads the way on the power play for the Bruins. He already has 12 power play goals in only 24 games this season. To put that into perspective, Ottawa as a team has eight power play goals!

Given Pastrnak’s presence on the power play, it’s no surprise the Bruins operate at a 32.88% rate. Factor in a second a unit that features Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk right now, and you’ve got problems as an opposing team.

What makes things even worse for the Senators? Ottawa is one of the most-penalized teams in the league. They gave opponents 89 power play opportunities, which is around four per game.

The Bruins score on one out of every three opportunities, a frightening stat for opposing teams. Based on recent history, the Senators are bound to go to the box, and the Bruins are bound to score.

Ottawa must capitalize on any opportunities it gets on the man advantage. This might not be enough, but it’s the only hope against a team like the Bruins. We’ll see how it plays out.