In what was a four-game, nine-day road trip, the Bruins finished with four points, three injuries — two of which were vital cogs in Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara — and just one regulation win.
Given the state of Boston’s roster with Bergeron out and two rookies averaging close to 20 minutes a night on the blue line, perhaps clinching points in three of four tilts away from the friendly confines of TD Garden is a silver lining — albeit an ominous sign of things to come as the B’s scratch and claw their way through the Atlantic Division.
But even with a close win over the Coyotes and OT losses to Dallas and Detroit, the Black and Gold have had recurring issues that don’t seem like they’re going to be resolved with a quick lineup tweak or the benefit of some puck luck.
We could circumvent this entire issues (and column) by stating the obvious — GETTING HEALTHY is what this team needs to get back on track.
But, with Bergeron and Chara out for a month and the status of players like Charlie McAvoy, John Moore and Brandon Carlo still uncertain, it’s becoming clear that this is the hand that Boston has been dealt for the foreseeable future.
It’s not going to be easy for the Black and Gold to pile on points with ease over the next month, so here’s a quick look at three areas of concern for the B’s to address over the last couple of games.
1. Boston’s D corps is surrendering plenty of Grade-A chances
At first glance, a D corps that has only relinquished five goals over three games with players like Connor Clifton, Steven Kampfer and Jeremy Lauzon getting heavy reps seems like a victory for the Black and Gold.
And while some players like Lauzon have risen to the occasion with stalwarts like Chara on the mend, it’s becoming clear that both Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak are going to have to bail out their club time and time again over the next month.
Since its latest stretch of injuries wiped out Bergeron, Chara and Moore, Boston has found itself edged in shots on goal and Corsi For Percentage in two of its three games (vs. Dallas and Arizona) — both games that Boston took a point out of, albeit thanks to a combined 68 saves from Rask and Halak in net.
But Wednesday’s OT loss to Detroit has been the most troubling outing from this angle, even if Boston held a rather commanding 56.57 Corsi For Percentage and outshot the Red Wings, 36-27.
And yet, while the numbers might point to a contest dominated by a shorthanded B’s roster, the Red Wings still found plenty of chances to get their licks in against the Black and Gold, with Detroit holding an astounding 25-19 edge in scoring chances during five-on-five play, even with nine fewer shots on goal.
(Stick tap to Natural Stat Trick for the heat map)
Whereas plenty of the Bruins’ shot attempts against Detroit were generated off of low-percentage shots from the point, the Red Wings made sure their chances counted, with a majority of the club’s attempts coming from Grade-A bids either right in front of Rask or in the slot.
Whether it be costly turnovers in the D zone or defensive breakdowns (the latest being a costly pinch by Kampfer that led to Detroit’s game-tying goal in the second), Boston is still allowing more than its fair share of quality looks for the opposition with most of its D corps decimated.
2. B’s struggling at the dot
It was only fitting that Detroit’s game-winning tally on Wednesday night was started off of a win at the faceoff dot, with
Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson struggling to corral the puck for his third straight loss to close out the contest.
Seconds after
Frans Nielsen won the draw, Detroit’s latest stretch of possession led to two points, with
Andreas Athanasiou beating
Brad Marchand and
Torey Krug in a 2-on-1 puck battle and wristing one past Rask.
.
@AndreasA86...
@EASPORTSNHL OT... a match made in heaven.
#LGRW pic.twitter.com/pluuqO2YCX
Without their dependable man in the middle in Bergeron (with his 55.7 faceoff win percentage this season), Boston’s luck in the circle has flatlined as of late — with the Bruins only winning 40 percent of their draws in Wednesday’s loss to the Red Wings.
Remarkably, it was a step in the right direction for the B’s, who only won a staggering 34 percent of their chances against Arizona on Saturday and 38 percent of their bids against Dallas on Friday — with Bergeron largely playing on the wing after suffering his injury.
With players like Forsbacka Karlsson and David Krejci posting faceoff win percentages of 32.5 and 29 percent, respectively, over the last three games — it’s no wonder that the Bruins have played catch up when it comes to puck possession in two of their last three games.
Losing the Corsi battle to Dallas and Arizona — teams that rank 23rd and 29th overall in goals per game — may not cost a team at times, but playing that game can burn you in a hurry against clubs like Toronto and Pittsburgh (fourth and sixth in NHL in scoring).
Guess who the Bruins face off against over the next couple of days?
3. B’s lineup has been thrown into the blender
After close to a month harping on the team’s secondary scoring issues, it seemed as though Boston was on the cusp of finding some stability up front.
The Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line was continuing its torrid pace of torching opposing blue lines, Jake DeBrusk was starting to find his groove on the second line and Forsbacka Karlsson was potentially the key cog at center that a dormant third line was looking for.
But since Bergeron’s injury, the checking trio of Sean Kuraly, David Backes and Chris Wagner has been just about the only line that has remained untouched as Bruce Cassidy and his staff struggle to put the duct tape on this mangled B’s roster.
Whether it be inserting Backes at Bergeron’s usual spot at the bumper on Boston’s top power-play unit (zero shots on goal Wednesday) or numerous lineup shuffles in the top six, it’s obvious that Boston has failed to find much cohesion up front.
In Wednesday’s game, Krejci and Pastrnak started the contest with Anders Bjork on the wing as part of Boston’s top line, but eventually ended up logging more reps with Danton Heinen (9:25 TOI) than Bjork (5:55) as the game progressed — with Bjork eventually earning looks on a hybrid line with Noel Acciari and Joakim Nordstrom.
In the two games since Bergeron went down with his injury, Boston’s offense has been supplied by a rookie playing in his seventh career game (two goals), a fourth-line winger and just one top-six regular in Jake DeBrusk.
Amid all of the various lineup combos that are set to continue over the next couple of weeks, Boston is going to need its big guns such as Krejci and David Pastrnak (who generated 3.75 goals per 60 minutes in limited time last season) to start doing some of the heavy lifting if Boston is going to stay afloat without Bergeron balancing everything out.
