We’re nearly at the end of November, and Boston Bruins’ fans are asking themselves: should I get my hopes up for this Bruins’ team or are they just going to let them down like they did last year after setting all kinds of records?
If you want an opinionated piece, you came to the right place. This reporter’s opinion is that the fans should be encouraged by what Boston has done so far, not discouraged.
Here are some of the reasons fans should be encouraged by this season.
Reason #1 – Their depth
Going into this season there was cause for concern after Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired, especially on the top two lines.
No one knew who the centers were going to be, and then out of nowhere, Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle – along with intermittent appearances by Matthew Poitras – showed up and closed the gaps easily.
While there has been a learning curve for some players, there has been no shortage of depth on this team whether it is from scoring. It’s been a case of “next man up” on this team this year. If one player is struggling, someone will pick them up. Simple as that.
Reason #2 – Their goaltending
Okay, I know I talk about this a lot this season, but the Bruins’ goaltending has been at the top of the league – both in terms of reliability and on the stats sheet.
This year Jim Montgomery ran out the same goaltending duo of Linus Ullmark, and Jeremy Swayman. The duo has combined for 498 saves on 535 shots this season thus far. Last season, Montgomery ran out the tandem throughout the season until the playoffs, and it looks like he plans to ride them the rest of the way this season.
After all, they do appear to be the best set up at the position than anyone else in the league.
Reason #3 – Their penalty kill is right where they left off
As it stands today, Boston is right at the top of the league with an absurd penalty kill. The Bruins’ penalty killers have now killed off 90.8 of all penalties they have faced. In fact, let’s just round that number to 91%, shall we?
That means that roughly nine out of every 10 power plays that the other teams do absolutely nothing. This is also without one of their best penalty killers Matt Grzelcyk, who has not played since the end of October.
Now, while they may not be capitalizing as well on their own man-advantage tries with their percentage at 22.8%, the only thing that really hurts is their own goal-differential/goal total. It does, however, pay dividends to have a good kill. That way if Boston does commit a penalty in order to gain momentum, it doesn’t have to kill everything in their path.
What’s next for the Bruins?
The Bruins are back in action on Wednesday when they take on the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on Max and TNT.