For a player entering his 22nd season in the NHL, Zdeno Chara was no worse for wear while serving once again as the anchor of the Bruins’ D corps on Thursday night.
Sure, his workload was lighter (19:24 of TOI) than in years past, but the 42-year-old defenseman still checked off all of the boxes that have made him one of the premier defensemen in the game for over two decades.
While most of his 5v5 minutes were set aside to account for the Dallas Stars’ top line of Tyler Seguin (10:16 TOI against Chara), Jamie Benn (8:33) and Joe Pavelski (8:43), Chara didn’t flinch against the daunting assignment.
During the time in which Seguin faced off against Chara, Boston managed to equal Dallas in terms of high-danger scoring chances at 2-2, while the Bruins managed to outshoot the Stars, 5-2, during the extended stretch in which Pavelski was out on the ice as the same time as No. 33.
Most importantly, the forward trio wasn’t able to land a punch against Tuukka Rask when Chara was out patrolling the blue line — as Seguin, Benn and Pavelski were held off the scoreboard in what was eventually a 2-1 victory for the Bruins.
Even at his age, Chara’s contributions on the defensive end were not all that surprising.
But down the other end of the sheet? Things were quite different.
Even if Chara did not end up on the scoresheet, the captain was much more active in Dallas' zone, especially when it came to peppering Ben Bishop in net. In total, Chara landed three shots in against Bishop from an average distance of 43 feet away from the goalie.
He also had an additional two shot attempts that came within high-danger areas of 25 feet and closer — although both were blocked by Benn and Andrej Sekera before they were able to get to Bishop.
He's not going to become the second coming of Brent Burns, but Chara's aggressiveness in the O-zone (after averaging 1.6 shots on goal per game in 2018-19) stands as another example of Boston's goal of involving its D corps more and more into its offensive gameplan.
In total, Boston's defensemen managed to land four shots on goal against Bishop in Thursday's victory — while another nine attempts were blocked. Of those nine attempts, six came within 25 feet.
While a committed Stars defense prevented many of those attempts from wreaking havoc down low, an aggressive D corps has the potential to do some major damage in 2019-20, especially when it comes to supporting a forward corps anchored by a number of puck-possessing pivots like Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Charlie Coyle and Sean Kuraly.
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However, giving his D-men a longer leash when it comes to operating in the O-zone and joining the rush brings plenty of risk for Bruce Cassidy and his staff — and will be something that Boston's bench boss will need to keep tabs on in order to ensure that a defense that ranked third overall in goals against per game (2.48) last year doesn't take a step back.
"We did a good job getting up," Cassidy said. "We weren’t clean ... Part of that is stuff we've practiced and we've got to find the right balance. I think our forwards need to attack more and turn up later and deeper. At the end of the day, there were a few rushes, the (Dallas) goal, we weren't sharp on identifying whether we had a high forward or not. And then who had the puck possession? It was a risky puck possession. So some of that is details.
"Like I said, guys haven't played in awhile, still getting up to speed, so I'm not going to judge this game too much, offensively, whether our D were helping or not. We want them to get involved. I thought they were skating really good in the first period in terms of breakouts, that's a bit of a different animal, but it's something we've also been preaching a lot more of. (Matt Grzelcyk), (Connor) Clifton — those guys that can beat the first guy, don't automatically shove it over to your partner. See if you can use your skill. I thought we were doing a good job of that, got away from that. So that's the one area — I think we can build right into our game immediately. The offense, is going to take some time."
The growth in the games of youngsters like McAvoy and Grzelcyk should already pay major dividends when it comes to improving Boston's 5v5 production in 2019-20, with the BU products already showcasing the wheels and awareness to get the puck out of the D zone in a hurry and push the play into the other end of the ice with just a couple of quick strides.
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For Boston, the mantra when it comes to its O-zone play has often been quality over quantity — with the B's often looking to stretch a defense out and find the perfect backdoor feed or Grade-A shooting lane instead of simply firing salvos of low-percentage shots from all over the ice.
Giving his D corps the green light to freelance in the opposition's side of the ice could have major consequences, even if Boston has the personnel in guys like McAvoy and Torey Krug to do some damage. As such, the onus will be on both the coaching staff and the players this season to find the balancing act that could give Boston one of the most versatile offenses in the league — while, more importantly, not sacrificing the defensive backbone that makes this club so effective, night in and night out.
"They send their D a lot," Cassidy last earlier this week when looking a high-octane offenses such as Calgary. "They're a team that’s willing to trade a little bit like Tampa. They figure they can outscore you. I don’t know if we want to go there yet. I just feel like we’re a good defensive team … I just don’t think it’s in our DNA, we’re not going to start bringing that culture here. Now, all of a sudden Charlie gets more confident, Brandon (Carlo), and Gryz and now — I think it’s the personnel involved on your back end. If that’s what gets into the lineup every night, then we’ll adjust to what we have, for sure. But we’re not there yet.”
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick.