Boston Bruins: Positives, negatives, and next steps February edition
By Tyler Pierce
Negatives from the Boston Bruins’ February.
Injuries.
While every team in the league has had to deal with injuries (and COVID-19) this season, some teams feel the pain more than others.
The case could be made that the Bruins have been one of the teams most impacted by injury thus far and February certainly didn’t change that. While David Pastrnak made his much needed return to the Bruins lineup in February, they lost two key contributors in Matt Grzelcyk and David Krejci.
Grzelcyk came into this season with the lofty expectation of filling the top offensive-defenseman role that opened when Torey Krug left for the St. Louis Blues in the off-season.
Grzelcyk tallied three assists in the first six games and looked to be just starting to gel when he went down with an injury. He missed all but one game in February due to the injury, but it looks as though he may return to the lineup soon.
Meanwhile, Krejci was able to play a few games for the Bruins in February, but his loss significantly hurts their depth up the middle. With Krejci out of the lineup, it’s no coincidence that secondary scoring has taken a significant hit.
This has led Bruce Cassidy to shuffle the lines and rely on young Jack Studnicka to fill the veterans shoes. While Studnicka has certainly proved himself serviceable, it’s a nearly impossible task for Studnicka to meet and exceed the output of a playmaking veteran like Krejci.
Secondary scoring.
Over the course of the last few seasons, one problem that has consistently plagued the Bruins has been the lack of secondary scoring behind the Marchand, Bergeron, and Pastrnak line. Based on the performance we saw in February, it doesn’t look like that problem is going anywhere anytime soon.
While the returning David Pastrnak has been able to make up for this lack of secondary scoring with his hot start, it certainly can’t be counted on as a long-term fix and must be addressed if the Bruins want to make a run at the Stanley Cup.
Aside from the aforementioned top line, only Nick Ritchie (three) and Craig Smith (two) had managed to score more than one goal in the month of February heading into the final game of the month against the New York Rangers.
Charlie Coyle, Trent Frederic, and Charlie McAvoy were able to add themselves to the list with a strong performance against New York, but the jury is still out on whether the secondary scoring can consistently pick up the slack.
Goaltending.
One of the biggest advantages that the Bruins have developed over the last few seasons has been their ability to build a strong goaltending tandem.
Over the course of the last four seasons, the Bruins’ goaltending tandem has achieved both a top-10 goals against average and a top-10 save percentage, including finishing first in both categories last season on the way to the William M. Jennings Trophy.
The month of January saw Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak combine for a .907 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average, which was second best in the league.
As the calendar has turned to February, the goaltending play has dropped off a little bit with the save percentage dropping below .900 and the goals against increasing to 3.00 goals per game.
This downward trend may be a cause for concern if it continues because, as we saw in the postseason last year, the Bruins’ goaltending tandem plays a pivotal role in their success and can make or break their chance at winning the Stanley Cup.