When it comes to Bruins' scoring woes, the numbers aren’t adding up

Numbers never lie.

Right?

At a quick glance, there’s wasn’t a whole lot to dislike following the Bruins’ matchup against the Red Wings on Saturday night.

On a night in which Boston outshot Detroit, 40-27, the numbers were even more telling during five-on-five play.

During that stretch, totaling 45:39 TOI, Boston held an overwhelming 53-33 edge in attempts, along with a 33-18 advantage in shots on goal.

The case could be made Boston was more effective at five-on-five than on the man advantage, with the B’s only landing four shots on net against Jimmy Howard during six power-play bids.

Players like Ryan Donato (5 shots on goal), David Krejci and Noel Acciari (two individual high-danger scoring chances apiece) kept Howard on his toes early and often — with Boston generating 25 scoring chances against the Red Wings, 12 of which were “high-danger” opportunities.



(All stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick)

When looking at possession and scoring chances, the numbers are pointing toward a dominant showing from the Black and Gold, along with two points on the board.

But numbers can be deceiving, and the only digits that truly matter — on the scoreboard — didn’t fall in Boston’s favor on Saturday.

While the B’s possessed the puck for most of the night, the Red Wings made the most of their chances — outscoring the Black and Gold by a 3-1 margin during five-on-five play en route to a 4-2 finish.



It was the latest in a troubling stretch for the Black and Gold, who have seen their offense stagnate as of late — especially with players like Patrice Bergeron and Charlie McAvoy out of the lineup.



Currently, the Bruins rank 27th in the league in goals per game at 2.69 — with the Black and Gold only averaging 1.8 tallies over their last eight tilts, dating back to a 1-0 OT loss to Dallas on Nov. 16.

During that same stretch, Boston has managed to post a record of 4-2-2 and accrue points at a steady rate — due in large part to a battered, but stout D corps that has relinquished the fewest goals in the NHL (64), along with two goalies playing absolutely  unconscious right now in Tuukka Rask (.927 save percentage in November) and Jaroslav Halak (.928 save percentage in November).

But relying on your defense and goaltending to stand on its head night in and night out isn’t a sustainable gameplan for the B’s, nor is relying on a power play that ranked second in the league entering the night with a 29.9 percent.

As evidenced by Saturday’s showing, during the rare night in which Boston’s power play doesn’t click (1-for-6), the Bruins’ play at five-on-five doesn’t produce nearly enough to counter poor special-teams skids.

“I just thought they lacked execution tonight, for whatever reason,” Bruce Cassidy said of Boston’s power play. “They’re pretty crisp most of the time. We’ve leaned on that group a lot this year, and tonight they were just off a little bit. I thought their execution was maybe – looked like puck mismanagement.

“I’m sure there’s both in there. We’re forcing some plays and then they get frustrated because they’re not getting the looks and then now they want to do it themselves a little bit. So, I would say puck management, frustration, lack of execution and then they got it going.”

Sure, even the most effective power-play groups will hit a slide, miss a feed and bungle a couple of shifts every so often. But what do the Bruins do with their lack of scoring during five-on-five play, even as the numbers continue to point to the team generating plenty of chances?

Sure enough, Thursday’s matchup against the Islanders was more of the same for most of the night, with Boston holding the edge in attempts (66-41), shots (33-19) and scoring chances (28-14).

And yet, Boston needed a remarkable outing from Rask (10-for-10 in overtime & shootout) to come away with two points against New York, with the B’s only managing to score one goal in regulation — with the tally coming on the power play.



Even with the lack of production at five-on-five, David Pastrnak was optimistic about Boston’s chances of turning the corner with its scoring following Thursday’s win — crediting the lack of tangible goals to other factors such as the opposing netminder.

“We had great chances, their goalie had a great night," Pastrnak said. "I think we could have had a couple goals but we either had a couple posts or the goalie made some really good saves and it’s just normal in this league.”

Goals are hard to come by in the NHL, for sure, and the case could be made that the B’s have been snakebit — especially after ringing the post multiple times against the Maple Leafs on Monday.

So what gives for the Bruins and their scoring issues? Is it bad luck? Great goaltending? Poor shot selection?

Cassidy hinted at puck luck not being on the side of the B’s yet again on Saturday, but as Boston continues to struggle with cashing in on its numerous chances around the net, it’s getting harder and harder to chalk this scoring drought up as a simple bounce not going your way.

“I don’t think we had a lot of luck around the net again tonight,” Cassidy said. “I don’t know if whether this is now becoming a thing for us where we can’t finish around the net or it’s one of those cycles we’re going through. That can probably be debated both ways.”