Boston Bruins: 5 Stars of the First 14 Games
Fourteen games into the 2021 season, the Boston Bruins are in first place in the East Division with a 10-2-2 record. To some, that may be a surprise considering that general manager Don Sweeney’s biggest move in the offseason was to add a middle-six forward in Craig Smith in free agency.
Boston lost blueliners Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara to free agency to the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals respectively, leaving the Bruins defense a young group in front of goalies Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak.
Despite just one addition to the roster that was eliminated from the Toronto playoff bubble by the Tampa Bay Lightning last August and two losses on defense, the Bruins are still record-wise, one of the top teams in the league. Here are five players that have had a big hand in their surprising start to the season in the first quarter of the campaign.
No. 5 – Nick Ritchie
Believe it or not, Ritchie is having a better season than most expected following a dismal start to his Bruins career following last season’s trade from the Anaheim Ducks.
He is tied for third on the team in goals with five and he is tied for fourth in points with 10 with David Krejci and David Pastrnak. When Pastrnak was out to begin the season recovering from hip surgery, Ritchie was a big part of the power play’s early success in the season with four goals and three assists on the man advantage. His only even-strength goal was last Friday night in a 1-0 victory over the New York Rangers.
He has seemed to find a home, for now, on the second line with David Krejci at left wing and has been one of the better middle-six forwards.
No. 4 – Jaroslav Halak
One of the league’s better backups, Halak has had a stellar start to the season. In five games, he is 4-0-1 and has allowed two goals or less in four of his five starts.
He is tied for second in the NHL in goals-against average (GAA) with the Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights at 1.38 and is fifth in save percentage (SV%) at .938. He recorded his first shutout of the season in last Friday’s win over the Rangers.
He has allowed seven goals on 112 shots and is proving to be one of Sweeney’s better free-agent signings three years ago.
No. 3. – Charlie McAvoy
When Krug and Chara left, the leader of the defense was expected to be McAvoy and the 23-year-old has proved he’s up to the challenge, both offensively and defensively.
Paired with Jeremy Lauzon, McAvoy’s offense game is taking another step forward early in the season. He has one goal, a game-tying goal against the Washington Capitals that forced overtime, 10 assists, and 26 shots on the net. He is averaging 24 minutes and 19 seconds a night on the ice and has cracked the 25-minute mark multiple times.
Last season, he finished 10th on voting for the Norris Trophy. He is making a case this season to crack the top five, maybe even higher if his play continues to evolve this season.
No. 2 – Brad Marchand
There were some questions as to whether or not Marchand was going to begin the season with the Bruins as he had sports hernia surgery in September and had a mid-January recovery time frame, which was when Boston was to open the season against the New Jersey Devils.
Marchand made it back in time for opening night and how lucky have the Bruins been that he did? He scored a power play goal and the game-winning goal in the shootout as Boston won the opener, 3-2. Since then Marchy has been a big part of the offense.
He leads the Bruins in goals with nine and also has nine assists. He has seven of his points on the power play with two goals and also has a shorthanded goal. Playing just over 20 minutes a night, he is a big part of the Bruins’ top penalty-killing unit.
It’s scary to think that if Marchand missed any amount of time to begin the season like David Pastrnak did, where the Bruins might be 14 games into the 56-game shortened season.
No. 1 – Patrice Bergeron
The Bruins’ new captain is off to a very good start in his 17-year in Boston. He is tied with Marchand with 18 points, but he leads the team with 11 assists along with his seven goals. He leads the Black and Gold in power play points at nine with four goals and five assists.
A valuable penalty killer with Marchand, he also has a shorthanded goal. While Bergeron has been on the scoresheet nearly on a nightly basis, he has been very good on faceoffs.
In his last four games, he has won over 50-percent (%) of his faceoffs, including going 24-for-29 in Saturday night’s loss to the New York Islanders. In a win over the Rangers on Feb. 10, he went 15-for-20 on faceoffs and he set up Marchand for a game-winning goal 36 seconds into the extra session.
He has a 60 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and a 60.9 Fenwick-for percentage (FF%). Playing with two top-10 wingers doesn’t hurt, but with Pastrnak missing the first seven games of the season and coach Bruce Cassidy struggling to find a replacement on the first line, Bergy’s play hasn’t missed a beat.
More. Bruins Latest: Line Changes, Lindholm & Devils. light
It is going to be an interesting next couple of games for the Bruins as Cassidy on Monday tinkered with his lines in practice and moved Pasta down and Jake DeBrusk up with Bergeron and Marchand. Despite the switch, don’t expect to see a drop-off in Bergy’s early-season play that should have him in the running for another Lady Byng Trophy at the end of the year.