Boston Bruins: The Good and Bad From January
It was a quick season-opening month of January for the Boston Bruins. They went 5-1-2 and are sitting in third place in the top-heavy East Division. Considering who they were missing and the injuries they dealt with, a 5-1-2 record is not all that bad considering.
Let’s take a look at the month for the Black and Gold with some of the good and the bad and we’ll get the bad out of the way first.
The bad for the Bruins in January.
Considering how things went, there was not all that bad for Boston. One of the biggest stories of the month was the injuries that occurred.
- Already missing David Pastrnak because of offseason hip surgery for the first seven games, Matt Grzelcyk was hit with not one, not two, but three different injuries in a short span.
The first injury was an upper-body injury in the third game of the season against the New York Islanders when he fell to the ice after a board battle with the Isles Jordan Eberle. He missed the rest of the period, but he wasn’t so lucky when he had the first of two lower-body injuries against the Philadelphia Flyers. He missed two games, returned against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and then suffered a different lower-body injury, which still has him currently sidelined.
Jake DeBrusk, Craig Smith, and Ondrej Kase also suffered injuries. It is too early in the season for the Bruins to already have a mash unit.
- Another issue that Boston endured was scoring issues, especially on the road. They went scoreless in their first nine periods 5-on-5 against the New Jersey Devils and Islanders. Two power play goals and a shorthanded tally were the only lamplighters by the Bruins on their season-opening road trip.
Both goalies, Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak played well enough on the road for the Bruins to win all three games, but they were let down by the offense, which failed to solve Mackenzie Blackwood of the Devils and Semyon Varlamov of the Islanders.
There was plenty good for the Bruins in January.
As mentioned above, a 5-1-2 record in January is nothing to be ashamed of after not having the services of Pasta, the leading goal scorer with 48 last season. Let’s take a peek at some other positive things from January.
- Nick Ritchie picked up some of the offensive production in the absence of Pastrnak with four goals (all on the power play) and three assists. Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand led the way with five goals and six assists each for 11 points and defensemen Charlie McAvoy tied Ritchie with seven points with one goal and six assists.
- Last season the Bruins went winless in seven shootouts and already have won both of their skill competitions in 2021. They beat the Devils on opening night on a game-winner from Marchand on the final shot, while a week later, DeBrusk ended the shootout against the Flyers with a game-winner on the final shot. Rask, by the way, has stopped all six attempts against him in the shootouts to date.
- Boston was perfect in their first homestand of the season against the Flyers and Penguins. Both Pennsylvania teams have high hopes this season, but the Bruins beat Philly 5-4 in the above-mentioned shootout and then in 6-1 in a rout two nights later. The Pens didn’t fare any better, losing 3-2 in overtime, before being shut down by Boston 4-1 forty-eight hours later. Home sweet home.
- When Torey Krug left for the St. Louis Blues and Zdeno Chara left for the Washington Capitals in free agency, there were a lot of questions surrounding the blue line. So far, so good. McAvoy and Carlo have been good, but Kevan Miller has been a pleasant surprise, while youngsters Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon have proved they belong. Connor Clifton has been steady as a replacement for Grzelcyk.
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All in all, it was a good month of January for the Bruins. Now as the calendar turns to February, things will start to heat up as they approach the mid-point of the shortened 56-game regular season.