Thursday’s victory over the Flyers stood out for a number of reasons for the Bruins.
A patchwork blue line featuring the likes of Jeremy Lauzon and Steven Kampfer held off a dynamic Philly forward corps, and Jaroslav Halak posted his second shutout in five starts this season.
Perhaps the most notable stat? On a night where the Bruins' top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak was held off the scoresheet, Boston managed to snag two points.
It was a step forward for the Bruins, who entered Thursday’s tilt with an 0-1-1 record when their top forward trio is held in check.
As evidenced last year in their postseason loss to the Lightning, a lack of secondary scoring can be a nail in the coffin for this top-heavy B’s club. Even with the Bergeron line posting 23 points over the five-game series, Boston’s depth sunk it against Tampa — with Brayden Point and his linemates imposing their will while the B’s bottom-six didn’t register a single point.
Bruce Cassidy’s efforts to roll out an imposing top-six unit has been a bit of an adventure through the first month of the 2018-19 campaign, with a number of players shuffling up and down the depth chart looking to be the final piece of the puzzle with two skilled skaters in David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk.
It hasn’t been seamless — nor has the trio of Krejci, DeBrusk and Danton Heinen torched opposing defenses like the Bergeron line has so far this year.
But after taking a deeper look into the numbers, this second line might be starting to become a legitimate force for a Bruins’ club in desperate need of some scoring depth.
In total, the Heinen-Krejci-DeBrusk line has skated together for just over 53 minutes at even strength this year. During that stretch, which spans over seven games, the line has scored twice.
They may not be lighting the lamp at the same rate as Boston’s top line, but their scoring rate doesn’t shed light on the manner in which the Krejci line has controlled the puck and limited opposing chances.
As a line, Krejci, DeBrusk and Heinen have yet surrender a goal against, holding opposing skaters to just 15 shot allowed through those seven games. Although they haven’t played as frequently as the Bergeron line, Heinen-Krejci-DeBrusk have posted an impressive Corsi-For Percentage of 60.67.
Corsi takes into account all shot attempts at even strength — whether it be shots on goal, shots that missed the net or clanged off the post or crossbar and shots that were blocked. Corsi-For Percentage stands as the difference between Corsi events for and against — with anything over 50 percent representing a player or line that controlled the puck for a majority of the time out on the ice.
Along the possession stats, the Krejci line has made an impact in other areas of the ice, with strong forechecking shifts leading to goals for Pastrnak on Tuesday against Ottawa and for Zdeno Chara against the Flyers on Thursday.
.@pastrnak96 serves up No. 9. ?#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/VwzUaifrex
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 24, 2018
A blast from Big Zee was all we needed.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/GtcDcNf5XD
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 26, 2018
46 ➡️ 74 ?#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/Dsl4e8pcQ6
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 26, 2018