The 14-2-0 Bruins have been on a roll - here’s how they can be even better

Be it a deluge of secondary scoring, a top line that’s clicking once again, stout special-teams play, a locked-in zone defense and sterling goaltending — it sure feels like everything is going the Bruins’ way these days. 

The 14-2-0 B’s might be steamrolling through the rest of the NHL so far in 2022-23, but Jim Montgomery has continued to preach caution in the midst of his team’s season-opening heater. 

"Number one is complacency, getting comfortable,” Montgomery said of possible hurdles for his team. “Two, learning how to get better while you're having success. It's really hard. We kind of get blind spots. And we got to try and make sure we don't have blind spots. And we're being analytical and critical of our own game and seeing where we need to grow and at the same time, not trying to be perfect. It's a balance.”

Of course, beyond just self-approbation or taking their collective foot off the gas pedal, there still are a number of ways for the Bruins to build their game as the schedule starts to ramp up and gauntlets against the Lightning (twice), Avalanche (twice), Golden Knights (twice) and Hurricanes await in the next three-plus weeks. 

So in what areas do these red-hot Bruins still have more to give?

5v5 scoring punch in the top-six unit

At face value, there shouldn’t really be a lot of consternation directed at the Bruins’ offense, considering that the B’s still sit atop the NHL with 4.00 goals scored per game. 

But as we noted on Tuesday, Boston’s 5v5 scoring output has started to dip as of late, especially when it comes to its potent top-six grouping.

Even though the B’s still sit in seventh place in the NHL in 5v5 goals scored (37), they have seen their 5v5 goals scored per 60 minutes rate dip down to a more pedestrian 2.59 so far in November, with a lot of that regression tied into the lack of scoring punch from its top-six unit.

Before Montgomery opted to reunite the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line over the weekend, a top line of Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk had failed to score a 5v5 goal in their  50:46 of 5v5 ice time. And even with 73.8% of their on-ice starts in the offensive zone, a second line of Hall-Krejci-Pastrnak had only managed to score three goals in their 71:33 of 5v5 ice time — while relinquishing three goals down the other end of the ice. 

That’s hardly the type of lopsided scoring differential that Montgomery and the B’s were expecting when rolling out these top-two lines. 

So far, it seems as though the easy fix in the short term will involve Montgomery keeping the 63-37-88 grouping in place in order to draw more tangible production out of the group. It’s tough to knock Montgomery for wanting to give that tried-and-true trio more reps — with Boston holding a 19-4 edge in scoring chances during the “Perfection Line’s” 28:07 of 5v5 ice time so far.

But regardless of the skill level of Boston’s top-six grouping, Montgomery believes that the B’s top forwards need to take a page out of the book of the B’s bottom-six grinders like Nick Foligno and Charlie Coyle in order to generate more Grade-A looks at 5v5 play. 

"For me, it's a couple of areas, I don't think we're breaking the puck out well enough to be able to get speed on the attack,” Montgomery said of Boston’s struggles with generating 5v5 offense. “I don't think our forecheck has been as tight as it needs to be. I think F1 is going and doing a good job. I don't think F2 and F3 are getting there to get loose pucks. And then the last thing is just our puck management, our decisions at the blue line. And then our decisions in the offensive zone once we have possession. 

“I think we're looking for easy offense versus — teams are going to defend well, but the longer you make them defend, the more holes there's going to be. Someone's going to make a mistake. And it's not easy to do, because teams are trying to outnumber you in certain situations to deny you possession, but we got to come up with a better plan as coaches at giving them the soft spots to possess and having people getting to those areas. And then players got to do a better job of winning one on one battles to create possession.”

(Sure wasn’t pretty, but a sequence like this is a pretty good formula to follow when it comes to generating Grade-A looks with regularity. Good play by Trent Frederic to drive to the net with the puck here.)

In the grand scheme of things, Bruins fans shouldn’t really fret over the likes of Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak and their ability to get into a groove at 5v5 play. 

But a second line anchored by David Krejci might need a bit more coaxing in order to get rolling, at least over these next few weeks,

Even though Krejci has put up a solid stat line in the early going (nine points in 13 games), a lot of that production has been during special-teams action, with Boston’s 5v5 scoring and defense both taking a hit when Krejci has been out on the ice this season. 

Perhaps these are just the growing pains of Krejci adjusting back to NHL competition (and he’s still only a few games removed from an upper-body injury). But Montgomery and the B’s will be keeping close tabs on this Hall-Krejci-DeBrusk line and see if they can start capitalizing in short order.

"I thought they were really good in the first period last game," Montgomery said of Hall-Krejci-DeBrusk. "And then the game got a lot of special teams both ways and that disrupts everybody. But I think if they have the same relentless attitude, on top of pucks and supporting each other, they're too good of players to not have success five on five."

Monitoring Ullmark’s reps

If we’re looking through the crowded field of team MVPs on this B’s squad through the first five weeks of the season — it’s hard to not single out Linus Ullmark as the individual that has contributed the most to Boston’s sterling start.

Ullmark hasn’t just settled into his current role as Boston’s 1A option between the pipes, he’s playing like a Vezina-Trophy frontrunner — going 11-1-0 with a 1.96 GAA and a .936 save percentage.

The 29-year-old netminder has been fantastic out of the gate in 2022-23, and hasn’t seen his game suffer at all despite taking a hefty amount of reps with Jeremy Swayman (lower-body injury) on the shelf.

But just because Ullmark has yet to look mortal in net, that doesn’t mean that Montgomery and his staff aren’t looking to curtail some of his workload at the earlier possible juncture. 

“Linus has been playing too many games,” Montgomery said. “I think he leads the league in games played. We want to get Sway back as soon as possible. I can’t say it’s a rotation we’re gonna get back to, but getting more of a split, rotation going.”

When it comes to the various misfortunes that can derail a team’s promising playoff run, having your top netminder run out of gas in the spring is a familiar occurrence — prompting many teams to turn away from the days of giving a 1A goalie 60+ starts during the regular season.

And considering that Ullmark’s previous career-high for games played was 41 (achieved last season with Boston), the Bruins need to make sure they don’t tax Ullmark with a long season still ahead of them.

Of course, having Swayman potentially available to back up on Thursday (and potentially play on Saturday) is a major lift for a B’s team that needs both netminders operating at a high level. 

Having Swayman right the ship after a bit of a shaky start (.878 save percentage) will not only allow the 23-year-old netminder to fight for regular minutes next to Ullmark, but that subsequent competition should allow both goalies to settle for a pretty even split in workload down the stretch. 

Finding the right mix on power play

Considering that the B’s are still cashing in on 25.4% of their power-play bids, you could make the case that Montgomery is opting for the good ol’ “If it ain’t broke” mantra when it comes to the personnel on Boston’s man advantage. 

Look no further than Sunday’s win over the Canucks, in which Boston’s five-man grouping on both of their power-play strikes was largely jumbled up. After some good (and bad) from a five-forward grouping over the past few games, Boston scored twice against Vancouver with a blueliner situated up top in 

And after Taylor Hall provided a screen on Bergeron’s first-period tally, it was DeBrusk at the nefront during Marchand’s wrister strike in the following frame. 

So far, it seems like Montgomery is comfortable with augmenting his 5v4 grouping based on matchups and feel — rather than settling for the same grouping night in and night out. 

"It goes to the compliment of how many smart players we have, that we can switch things up on the power play. And we tried it with Krejci and we put 63 at the net front and the next one, we tried 63 at the netfront with Charlie up top and 74 at the netfront,  and they scored a beautiful goal,” Montgomery said. “We've done a lot of different things like that, like in a game five games ago, we put Krejci back there and hadn't been back there with five forwards, and they went 2-for-2 2 in that game. Sometimes you just get a feel for how the players are playing and who's going."

Of course, that ability to switch things up on the power play can make things difficult for opposing PK units to gameplan around — but based on the extended sample size that we’ve seen so far, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if Montgomery eventually settles in on a more conventional 4F-1D grouping as the season progresses.

Having a fleet-footed D along the blue line like McAvoy not only limits the risk of counter-rushes and shorthanded chances, but it also stands as an easy way for McAvoy to get rolling offensively if he’s handed extended reps next to talents like Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak on the man advantage.