How can the Boston Bruins fix the power play? Make the simple plays

The league’s hottest power play turned ice cold over the past nine games. What can the Boston Bruins do to fix it?

The Boston Bruins took on the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night in a matchup of the Eastern Conference’s two best teams. The Capitals, like they always seem to do against the Bruins, won the game 3-2.

The biggest difference in the game turned out to be special teams. Washington got a power play goal from T.J. Oshie to tie the game in the second period. The Capitals never looked back after that goal.

The Bruins meanwhile had chance after chance on the power play, but they could not capitalize. Boston failed to score on five power play opportunities in Washington.

This unfortunately is a recent trend for Boston’s power play. Over the past nine games, the Bruins only had two power play goals in 26 opportunities. That’s an abysmal 7.7% success rate.

Such a low success rate is crazy when you consider that Boston started the season with one of the league’s best power plays. Even after this cold stretch, Boston’s overall power play percentage is still around 27%, well above the league average.

Is there anything currently wrong with the power play? And if so, can the Bruins fix it? Yes, as long as they make the simple plays.

Bruins need to shoot rather than look for the extra pass

Bruce Cassidy said recently that the Bruins pass the puck too much with the man advantage, and he’s totally right.

Rather than shoot the puck when there’s an opening, the Bruins try to make the “pretty” passing play. This worked in the beginning of the season, but now those plays aren’t always there.

Opposing defenders know the Bruins want to set David Pastrnak up in his customary spot, so they collapse on him and close that passing lane. Yet, the Bruins still try to force it to Pastrnak.

The Bruins need to keep things simple now and shoot the puck when they get the chance. Tic-tac-toe goals look nice, but they count as much as tipped shots from the point.

There’s never enough traffic in front of the net for the Bruins

Those shots from the point only work when there’s traffic out front, something the Bruins often fail to create. For the most part, all five players on the power play hang on the perimeter or behind the net.

Jake DeBrusk is the only one on the first unit who spends any time out front. But, he usually doesn’t create that much of a screen, and he routinely moves down to the corner.

Look at the game against Washington as an example. Whenever the Bruins shot the puck on goal, Brayden Holtby had a good look. A goalie like that will make those saves 10 times out of 10.

Again, the Bruins need to do the simple things and always have a net-front presence. DeBrusk needs to go to the front of the net and stay there. This will screen the goalie, and it also will help pull defenders away from Pastrnak and Torey Krug up top.

The Bruins have so much talent on that first power-play unit, but sometimes they players try to do too much. To change the fortunes on the man advantage, the Bruins need to keep things simple: create traffic out front and take open shots.