Grading the Bruins Special Teams Through 28 Games
Going into the season, there was a lot of questions surrounding the Boston Bruins special teams units with the departures of Torey Krug and former captain Zdeno Chara in free agency.
The Bruins have always been good at killing penalties under coach Bruce Cassidy and this year has been no different. The real questions were surrounding the power play. Would Boston be able to fill the void of Krug and his 26 man advantage assists from last season when they finished second in the shortened 2019-20 season to the Edmonton Oilers?
As the Bruins sit at the midway point of their 56-game 2021 season, the answers to those questions have been mixed.
Bruins have top-ranked penalty kill in the NHL.
This one should be a surprise to no one. The Black and Gold lead the league in penalty killing 28 games into the season and they show no signs of slowing down.
They have killed 89.4-percent (%) of the opposing team’s opportunities, and have killed off 19 of their last 21 penalties. Boston has three shorthanded goals, with Patrice Bergeron scoring two and Brad Marchand tallying the other one.
Bergeron and Marchand are the top two forwards on the PK, while Charlie Coyle, Chris Wagner, Sean Kuraly, and Anders Bjork are just some of the forwards who have frustrated their opponents.
On defense, Jeremy Lauzon was a key piece of the unit before he fractured his hand, as was Brandon Carlo and his long reach before his injury on March 5. Charlie McAvoy, who does just about everything, and rookie Jakub Zboril have been key recently as well on the PK.
Without a doubt, the Bruins penalty-killing unit has done a nice job this season keeping them in games with the success of everyone and it looks like losing Chara on the unit has hurt.
Penalty Killing Grade: A+
Bruins’ power play has struggled at times.
Going into the season, Boston knew that David Pastrnak was going to miss about the first month of the season as he recovered from offseason hip surgery. Not only did the Bruins lose Krug in free agency on the power play, but Pastrnak and his 28 goals from last season would be out of the lineup.
While two of the top producers on the power play were missing, the Bruins began the season not skipping a beat on the man advantage. There were some surprises that scored some goals, even some big goals at certain moments in games, that had the B’s near the top of the league in terms of percentage.
Nick Ritchie has been a nice net-front presence on the power play and he is second on the team with five power play goals. Patrice Bergeron has four man-up goals, but a usual, despite missing the first seven games, Pastrnak is leading the unit once again with six PPG’s.
Marchand and Jake DeBrusk are the other two players that have multiple power play goals with a pair each.
Grzelcyk and McAvoy have split time as the defensemen on the power play. Grzelcyk scored his first power play goal of the season on March 15 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both Grzelcyk and McAvoy each have four assists.
When Pastrnak returned to the lineup and when Grzelcyk was out with one of his multiple injuries he’s dealt with this season, Cassidy went with a five-forward power play unit that ended up getting goals in three consecutive games. That was a nice adjustment that should be considered again this season in certain situations.
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The power play has struggled as of late, dropping all the way to 12th in the league last week. In their three games prior to their COVID-19 pause, the Black and Gold had scored power play goals in three straight games, which had vaulted them to ninth. The Bruins will need to get more production from their units as we go deeper into the season.