Bruins at the break: How things are shaping up for the final 48 games

Since the entire NHL enjoyed the mandatory, three-day break for Christmas, it gave everyone a chance to reflect and look ahead at the remainder of the 2017-18 season. In Boston, the first 34 games for the Bruins were eventful.

Due to an abundance of injuries, it was tough to get a realistic picture of the team, but it was a strong measuring stick. At the break, the Bruins already had 144 man-games lost. There’s been an influx of young talent and those players were thrust into action.

In fact, seven of them scored their first NHL regular-season goal already this season, including Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy, Anders Bjork, Danton Heinen, Sean Kuraly, Peter Cehlarik and Matt Grzelcyk.

Still, the Bruins find themselves with a 19-10-5 record good for 43 points and third place in the Atlantic Division as the season resumes Wednesday night.



“We had a lot of injuries and the lineup was changing a lot,” said Tuukka Rask. “A lot of the young guys, they weren’t comfortable yet, so it takes a little while to get going. We stayed patient. We believe in our system. We’re practicing hard and watching a lot of video and this is what it looks like when we’re doing what we’re supposed to – everybody chipping in. There’s really no other recipe for success than everybody just chipping in.”

The schedule has been one of Boston’s biggest challenges, especially of late. The Bruins played seven games in 11 days and posted a 7-1-1 record in their last nine games, including its current four-game winning streak.

“We’re still looking to get better,” said captain Zdeno Chara. “We had a really tough stretch of games in the last three weeks and we handled it well. We played some really tight games and we ended up winning them.

“Pretty soon, before you know it, it’s the half-way point of the season and you want to continue to keep getting better and improving. That’s where we’re at.”

The Bruins are trending in the right direction. A lot of credit has to be given to coach Bruce Cassidy. Since he’s taken over the head coaching duties, dating back to Feb. 7, the Bruins are 38-18-6. He’s made a few adjustments to his coaching style since then, based on player availability and the lineup. He’s also tweaked his X’s and O’s because of the way opponents are defending the Bruins.

He still wants an up-tempo style of play. Basically, the five-man rush, when it had breakdowns, allowed odd-man rushes going the other way, so Cassidy has accepted the chip-and-chase method as another way of creating sustained pressure in the offensive zone and it’s worked.

The biggest thing for a coach at this level is managing personalities. Cassidy has done a solid job in this department. It helps that he’s coached the younger core in Providence. He’s hard on players and not afraid to give them wake-up calls during the course of a game, or as a healthy scratch. When it comes to practice time, it’s all about learning and moving forward. Every practice he’s working one-on-one with different players. Most of the time it’s a simple conversation that helps.

At this point of the season, things are going well for the Bruins. It will, at some point, start to go the other way again. The one thing we do know about this team is it has the potential to become a perennial playoff contender and that has been evident in December.

“The last month has been good,” Rask said. “We’re trending in the right direction and we’re playing the way we want to play and it’s been resulting in wins, so we’ve got to keep it going right after the break.”

Here are five things to focus on in the next 48 games:

Masked men: Rask and Anton Khudobin have been a solid tandem. This was one of the biggest questions during the offseason, and again at the start of regular season. After his struggles to start the year, Rask has been outstanding. He’s 8-0-1 in his last nine starts. Khudobin has become more than a serviceable backup, but it’s imperative he keeps it going if the Bruins can earn a playoff berth. Rask has played 22 games and the goal is to keep him between 55-60 games.

Oh, captain: Chara is averaging nearly 24 minutes of ice time per game this season. At age 40, he’s showing zero signs of slowing down. Managing his minutes should become a priority in the second half because, if the Bruins earn a postseason berth, they’ll need Chara as fresh as possible this spring. Cassidy has used seven defensemen in a game twice and it worked with wins over the Penguins and Lightning, so that could be one method to manage everyone’s minutes.

Youth movement: When Cassidy decided that DeBrusk and Bjork needed to watch from press level as healthy scratches, it worked and both rookies responded. They’re going to deal with the normal ebbs and flows all season, but controlling those moments will be key. Basically, Cassidy will allow them to fight through it because it will help their development. Grzelcyk has been solid and he’s earned his minutes. Once Adam McQuaid returns to the lineup, which could be Wednesday night, it’ll be another tough decision for Cassidy. Maybe it’s time to have second-year defenseman Brandon Carlo watch from the press box for a game or two in order to hit the reset button. Heinen and McAvoy have both played their way into the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year) discussion.

David Krejci: The veteran forward has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury. Overall he’s missed 16 games. He’s been dealing with back issues for the majority of the season. The Bruins are a different team when he’s in the lineup. He and Patrice Bergeron are a dangerous 1-2 punch down the middle. Krejci has the ability to slow the game down, which is important on the power play. He also helps make the younger players around him better. If he can remain healthy for the duration, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Cassidy decides to reunite Krejci and David Pastrnak in order to bring more offensive balance to the lineup.

Prediction: The Bruins will remain relatively consistent and finish the regular season with 96 points for third in the Atlantic Division.