The Boston Bruins had a great third period on Saturday night to steal victory from the jaws of defeat against the San Jose Sharks. However, any fan watching that game knows they were lucky to get one point, let alone two. The first two periods were disappointing, as both special teams units struggled mightily, and it almost cost them a near-perfect five-on-five effort.
The Bruins went one-for-five on the powerplay, scoring on their last chance with the man advantage. Fittingly, the second unit's Fraser Minten scored the insurance marker that became the game-winner, after the first unit was a disaster.
The first unit was outscored 1-0, as they gifted the Sharks a shorthanded goal after an ugly giveaway from Elias Lindholm. It's easy to blame the veteran center everyone loves to pile on, but it was a microcosm of the group's poor breakouts and offensive zone entries all night.
Whether it was giving up pucks at the opposing blue line, predictable drop passes in the neutral zone, or the near-disastrous Frederic Brunet drop-pass giveaway that cost him his spot on the second unit to Mason Lohrei, something felt disjointed on Saturday night.
Bruins' special teams struggled Saturday night
The Sharks aren't a team you can take lightly on the penalty kill either, with so much talent on their first unit, and the Bruins kept them in the game by allowing two powerplay goals. They killed four others, which is more a discipline issue than a penalty-killing issue, but you can't expect to win on too many nights when your special teams get outscored 3-1.
The Bruins sit 12th in the NHL in powerplay percentage and 19th in penalty killing. It's okay to be an average team when your five-on-five play is great, but it'd be nice to see more consistency night to night. The powerplay percentage is propped up by a couple of great nights when they were perfect, which also hides nights like Saturday, when it was horrific.
Boston is finding a way every night, as Fraser Minten noted post-game, but can they sustain that over a full season? Whether it's defensive zone lapses some nights or poor special teams others, they are flirting with disaster.
"“Just win a period and win a game. It wasn’t our cleanest today, but a tie game going into the third, we’ll take it, and we can close those out. We came out and wanted to make that happen.”"Fraser Minten
The Bruins have gotten by so far, and a Saturday win quiets the noise that would've surrounded their special teams if they had lost, but the coaching staff definitely needs to improve it quickly.
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