Boston Bruins: Look for special teams to decide matchup with Kings
The Boston Bruins have a great chance to start their homestand with a victory. Special teams is a big reason why.
The Boston Bruins start a much-needed homestand Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings come to town with one of the worst records in the league, so this is a great chance for the Bruins to open up this four-game stretch with two points.
Los Angeles currently sits eighth in Pacific Division with 31 points. They only have 14 wins in 35 games played.
A big reason for the Kings’ struggles this year is special teams. Los Angeles is near the bottom of the league in both power play and penalty kill percentage. That presents a major opportunity for Boston.
Kings power play vs Bruins penalty kill
The Kings don’t have a ton of talent and depth up front, and as such their power play is a weakness. Through the first 35 games, Los Angeles only has 14 power play goals in 113 opportunities. That 12.4% success rate is well below the league average.
Boston counters Los Angeles with a strong penalty kill. So far this year, the Bruins killed 83.3% of opponent power plays.
The only two players the Bruins have to worry about on the Kings’ power play are Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty. Each has four power play goals, so combined they account for more than half of Los Angeles’ power play production.
Basically, if the Bruins shut down Kopitar and Doughty, they shut down the entire power play. That’s obviously to Boston’s benefit.
Bruins power play vs Kings penalty kill
Which team has the advantage when Boston is on the power play? Again, the Bruins come out on top.
After an extended slump, Boston’s power play woke up a bit in the win over the Panthers. The Bruins’ power play still operates at a 26.2% success rate, almost seven percentage points above the league average.
The Bruins have 27 goals on the man advantage, nearly double the Kings. David Pastrnak alone has only one fewer goal than the entire Los Angeles roster.
Look for the Bruins to have success on the power play against Los Angeles. The Kings only killed 74.1% of opponent power play opportunities this year.
A lot of this has to do with struggles in goal. Both Jonathan Quick and Jack Campbell have sub-.900 save percentages.
If the Kings can’t stay out of the box on Tuesday night, they’ll have a really tough time against the Bruins.
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Like we mentioned before, the Bruins have a great opportunity to start their homestand with a victory over the Kings. Advantages on special teams is a big reason why.