When it comes to sizing up the Bruins and what has plagued this club over its four-game losing streak, it’s tough to ignore the elephant in the room.
For years now, the man advantage has often served as the Bruins’ fast pass to offense — with the likes of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, Torey Krug, and Brad Marchand often bailing out sluggish even-strength stretches and putting contests away and with just a couple minutes of 5v4 action.
But such hasn’t been the case as of late when it comes to Boston’s power-play proficiency. Following the B’s 3-2 loss to the Capitals Wednesday night, Boston has only managed to cash in twice on its last 25 power-play opportunities.
Pretty concerning stuff, not only because of the high expectations those PP units set for themselves in the early going of the 2019-20 campaign, but because all of the key cogs have been back in place over the last couple of games.
Even if Bruce Cassidy has shuffled between Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen as the netfront option on the top power-play unit, Bergeron has returned to his usual spot in the bumper, while Pastrnak, Krug, and Marchand are all manning their respective positions whenever a 5v4 opportunity presents itself.
But even with the entire troop back together, Boston is only 1-for-10 on the power play since Bergeron was cleared following an eight-game absence due to injury.
The numbers are pretty disheartening, for sure. But when compared to other shortcomings with his club as of late, don’t expect too much tinkering from Bruce Cassidy when it comes to the personnel running Boston’s top offensive weapon.
The usual ruts that even the most well-oiled power-play unit succumbs to during the long grind of a regular-season have been prevalent with Boston over the last couple of weeks.
On some nights, it’s a lack of movement in the O-zone, with Cassidy noting following a 5-2 loss to Ottawa on Monday that there were far too many “one on one” situations, rather than the puck movement and bang-bang sequences that have made the Bruins’ power play one of the most lethal squads in the league.
Other nights, you can chalk it up to that good ol' puck luck. But throughout this 2-for-25 slump, the Bruins have still managed to pepper the net during these 5v4 stretches.
In the last four games alone, Boston has managed to outshoot the competition, 31-7, through 27:28 of TOI during the power play.
If we were to expand the numbers over the entire 2-for-25 sample size of eight games, the Bruins have held a commanding 75-17 edge in shot attempts over 44:08 of 5v4 ice time, generating 38 scoring chances during that same stretch.
The chances and O-zone time has been there for the Bruins, as it should be, during the power play. So, what gives?
Shot selection and the lack of quality scoring chances rise to the top when it comes to current issues with this crew. Even if the tried-and-true B's personnel are getting pucks on net and establishing some extended stretches in the opponent’s zone, very few are leading to the Grade-A looks that should be piled up during each and every power-play shift.
On Wednesday in D.C., Boston managed to test Braden Holtby early and often on the man advantage, attempting 14 shots and landing eight of them against the Capitals netminder over 9:41 of 5v4 TOI. Pretty good stuff, save for the fact that the B's were only credited for one high-danger scoring chance during that lengthy stretch of play.
(For a team that logged close to 10 minutes of TOI on the power play, you'd likely want a few more shots from down low against Holtby. Far too many shots from low-danger areas here.)
In fact, the lack of high-danger chances on the power play has been an ongoing issue for the Bruins as of late — with the B's only generating 11 high-danger looks during that 44:08 of ice time over the last eight games.
Again, a concerning trend when breaking down the numbers, but one that Cassidy believes can be adjusted by simply tweaking his top unit's shot selection, rather than overhauling the entire framework of that group. After all, Boston did actually score once during 5v4 play Wednesday — with Bergeron knocking home a second-effort chance down low against Holtby. The goal was subsequently wiped off the board due to an offside review from seconds earlier in the O-zone possession, but the sight of Bergeron cashing in down low should be a model for how Boston snaps out of this recent skid.
"I thought they got impatient with the start of the third. Pasta ends up down around the net. I just think, there's better ways and we have talked about ways to free up his shot — by moving the guys up top," Cassidy said. "Typically it's March, it's Torey, it's Pasta. The other two are pretty — stay in their spots. Listen, they're good players, we're going to give them levels of freedom to do what they see fit on the ice. But I thought that was the one power-play we probably got out of our structure too much. Again, we score another one that comes off the board. That's probably the third or fourth time on the power play this year.
"Obviously we have to have better discipline at the blue line, but those ones are tough. They have a good kill. When we did get some looks, we were off-net too, that's part of it as well. You've got to force goalies to make saves. The goal we did score, second-effort play, right? Down by the net. It wasn't anything fancy, we just, we won a battle, got it there and I think there was a little bit of that missing on our power play. We'll have to talk about getting those greasy goals. That's how Jake got one the other night in Ottawa. Sometimes that's the way you gotta come out of them."
For as much as Boston's power play has bottomed out as of late, the more focused concern should still be directed toward the lack of urgency that has often hampered the B's out of the gate in most games, the lack of a viable RW on David Krejci's line and more.
Yes, the numbers aren't too pretty, but don't expect a major overhaul from Boston's power play. Things might need to be simplified, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it should be the mantra with the usual suspects in the Bruins' 5v4 crew.
The shots are still piling up for this unit. And they're due to bury a couple.
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick.