Boston Bruins: Special Teams Having Early Success in 2021

Last season, the Boston Bruins had the second-ranked power play behind the Edmonton Oilers, while their penalty kill was ranked in the top-five all season long.

Coming into the 2021 season, there was a lot of questions surrounding whether the Bruins power play could still be effective early in the season. Gone is defensemen Torey Krug to the St. Louis Blues in free agency, while David Pastrnak is out to begin the season as he recovers from hip surgery he underwent in September.

Losing the quarterback of the power play in Krug who recorded a team-high 26 assists on the man advantage and Pastrnak’s 20 goals can’t easily be replaced.

Through the first five games of the season, Boston is sitting at 3-1-1 and a big reason why they are is because of their special teams.

Bruins power play producing without Pasta.

The Bruins power play has been effective early in the season. They are 6-for-17 with their first unit supplying all of the production. Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and Nick Ritchie (yes Nick Ritchie) each have two goals apiece.

In the first game of the season against the New Jersey Devils, the Bruins used power play goals from Marchand and Ritchie to help secure a 3-2 shootout victory. Ritchie’s second power play goal early in the season was part of the Black and Gold’s four-goal third-period outburst in Thursday’s wild 5-4 come-from-behind win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Saturday night against the Flyers again at the TD Garden, Bergeron scored twice on the man advantage and Marchand added his second of the season in the third period on the PP in a 6-1 Boston rout.

In their three victories, the Bruins have scored power play goals. And this is all being down without their most productive part of the unit in Pastrnak, who keeps inching closer to making his season debut.

Bruins’ penalty kill is just as effective.

Don’t look now, but the Bruins penalty-killing unit is near the top of the league early in the season. They killed off their first 13 penalties against the Devils and New York Islanders, before giving up two power play goals to the Flyers last Thursday at the TD Garden. Saturday night, they successfully killed off both Flyers’ chances.

In some cases, the Bruins have been so effective in killing penalties that they are not even allowing a shot on Tuukka Rask or Jaroslav Halak. When shots do get through, the goalies have been able to see most of the shots as the defense has kept the traffic in front of the net to a minimum. Boston has killed off 18 of the 20 opportunities their opponents have had.

Bergeron scored a shorthanded goal in the Bruins 2-1 overtime loss to the Devils on Jan. 16, but the effectiveness of the penalty kill has been a pleasant surprise early in the short season.

The Bruins’ success on special teams had a large effect on the success they had during the 2019-20 season and so far this season, they have picked up where they left off which is a good sign.