If you are a Boston Bruins fan, you should have a good feeling to begin the 2024-25 season. The only two games they’ve lost have come to the Florida Panthers and they’ve won three games. There have been bumps along the way and a message has clearly been sent to the group.
The Bruins’ offense has struggled to start the season. In incredible fashion the Bruins’ fourth line of Mark Kastelic, John Beecher, and Cole Koepke have been the best, having 15 combined points and being a combined plus-26. The Bruins need more from their top guys, leading to head coach Jim Montgomery to scratch Morgan Geekie ahead of their game against the Colorado Avalanche. The move paid some dividends, as the second line played its best game of the season.
The other area that needed some improvement was the Bruins’ power-play unit. It has struggled to begin the season, but elevated itself against the Avalanche.
The Units That Struggled
Coming into the game against the Avalanche, the Bruins power play was dreadful. They were two for their last 18 attempts, good for an 11.1% success rate. The success rate was poor and so was their execution and what they did with the man advantage.
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Their zone entries were stagnant and when they did enter the zone, they didn’t execute anything and couldn’t muster up a quality scoring chance. The two goals they did score came from the low-danger areas of the ice.
Opposing teams did a tremendous job limiting the Bruins’ ability to get to the high-danger area of the ice. To make matters worse, the Bruins allowed two shorthanded goals. Something needed to be done, especially with the firepower on the units. You cannot keep wasting opportunities like that, as special teams can help make a difference in a hockey game. Needless to say, changes were made and it was inspiring.
The Bruins’ Power Play Breaks Through
The Bruins power play finally broke through and more than once against the Avalanche. They moved away from what was not working and made adjustments. Instead of trying to drop the puck back to the defenseman for zone entries, the Bruins sprung players into the zone and make things happen that way.
It was night and day what was occurring. Not only did they score a pair of goals, but it was how they scored the pair of goals that was impressive. One thing the Bruins did a great job of was utilizing the boards and seeing the ice in full. They were able to make crisp tape-to-tape passes and it led to the puck being buried in the back of the net. The first goal was due to a fantastic setup by defenseman Mason Lohrei, who made a slick cross-ice pass to Charlie Coyle.
Some slooowwwww mo sketti pic.twitter.com/bo9NYlGrPv
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 17, 2024
The second goal displayed much of the same strong puck cycling. Hampus Lindholm sent another cross-ice pass to David Pastrnak and they were able to cash in again. This is what the Bruins needed to do: Instead of aiming for quantity of shots, they aimed for quality and it paid off. During the game, the Bruins generated 11 scoring chances and fired 11 shot attempts from the high-danger areas of the ice. In the first four games, they had just eight attempts. These little adjustments in this game paid off, but there’s still room to improve going forward.
How Bruins Can Keep the Momentum Going
It is still early and all teams are still making adjustments. The Bruins made the necessary adjustments and went on to have much better success with the man advantage. For them to continue that success, they need to find ways to generate higher-quality chances.
6️⃣ ➡️ 1️⃣3️⃣ 🤩 pic.twitter.com/4GFRmMvh18
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 17, 2024
One thing that is crucial is having Lohrei help quarterback the back end. He is a player who once played forward for Ohio State University and switched to defenseman. He has great vision on the ice and is a wizard offensively. Having him on the power play gives the Bruins another weapon and a player who can help make things happen. The weapons are loaded, with Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy helping on the back end and the offense running through Pastrnak. These weapons will look to help continue to improve their units and become a force when the opportunity presents itself.
HockeyViz is great for shot charts and heat maps. These resources provide excellent visuals on what the Bruins are doing and how they are generating their offense. The Bruins as a unit are utilizing the back end to get shot attempts from far range. What they need to continue to do is generate chances from the inner slot and try to cause chaos in front of the net. The two goals against the Avalanche were perfect examples, in what was a breath of fresh air for the power play. It started slow, but got better and the show went on from there.
Always Keep Improving
It was a slow start for the Bruins’ man advantage. They made adjustments and the results got better. Watching that power play work against the Avalanche was inspiring. They seemed more confident with the puck and were making plays. It felt good to see and the results were due to their hard work and creativity. Going forward, they’ll look to keep doing the same and try to generate more quality chances. This unit has too much firepower to not be good, as they currently sit 19th with the man advantage.
