Through four games thus far in 2024-25, the Boston Bruins have given their fans reasons for both excitement and concern. The team sits at a neutral 2-2-0 after two losses to the always-stubborn Florida Panthers and wins against the Los Angeles Kings and Montreal Canadiens. While the Bruins continued struggles against the Panthers are a cause for concern in their own right, two aspects of their game particularly stood out as needing improvement: their defense and their power play.
Bruins’ Defensive Sloppiness
Outside of a stellar defensive performance at home against the Kings, the Bruins have allowed four or more goals in each of their games thus far. Some of these goals have been ugly, giving their goalies almost zero chance to make a play. In their first game of the season, netminder Joonas Korpisalo struggled, however, he was not entirely to blame for the six goals the team allowed: he was facing shot after shot from point-blank range.
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The Bruins’ defensive efforts did not improve meaningfully in their second matchup with the Panthers. They were plagued by several sloppy errors that led to Florida having grade-A chances, including a careless turnover by Mason Lohrei in their back end which resulted directly in the Panthers’ first goal. While Jeremy Swayman was not his spectacular self during the game, the blame for the loss should not be on his shoulders: the Bruins simply did not do enough to help their goalie out defensively to give them a good chance to win the game, and they were fortunate that the contest was not blown wide open.
Bruins’ Power Play Struggles
Another area of struggle for the Bruins thus far this season has been their power play. In all, they have netted 3.75 goals per game over these first four contests, a solid amount of offensive output. They have, however, struggled with the man advantage.
The Bruins have two power play goals on the season, one by David Pastrnak in garbage time in the team’s first matchup with the Panthers, the other to open the scoring for the Bruins by Charlie McAvoy against the Canadiens. On the whole, they are scoring at a rate of 11.1% across the first four contests. Now, we are working with a notably small sample size and we should not anchor wholeheartedly to that 11.1%: they could score two power play goals next game and be at around 20% on the season. That said, the Bruins have looked lethargic at times when they have been up a man. They allowed a Sam Reinhart shorthanded goal in both games against Florida, bringing them to a net-neutral rating on their own power play thus far this season. It is still very early in the season and it is definitely not time to panic, however, this has been an area of concern that fans should hope the team addresses sooner rather than later.
Looking Ahead
The Bruins will have the chance to bounce back on Wednesday as they take on the Colorado Avalanche in the first of three consecutive road games out West. They will then head to Salt Lake City where they will take on the Utah Hockey Club on Saturday before wrapping up their road trip in Nashville on Tuesday. Fans should keep an eye on the team’s defensive play and their efforts on the power play and hope for some improvement there. One additional element of the Bruins’ game to keep an eye on is the play of their fourth line: they have received an outsized amount of offensive production from that group including five points from Mark Kastelic, and if they continue to impress they could be an important asset for the team going forward.
