Jeremy Swayman has found his game. Over his last three starts, he has saved 66 of the 70 shots he has faced, allowing two goals last night (Nov. 29) against the Pittsburgh Penguins and one in each of his two prior games. The Bruins have won just one of those starts.
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The Bruins were comfortably in the top half of the league last season in goals per game with 3.21. They lost goal-scorer Jake DeBrusk during the offseason but added star center Elias Lindholm. Outside of that, their forward group stayed relatively the same, keeping key members of their top six. There was no reason to believe there would be a major fall-off from a season ago. As we head into December, however, the Bruins sit in dead last in the NHL in goals per game. It has been the story of their season thus far, and they will find themselves out of a playoff spot if they are unable to turn it around.
Bruins’ Star Struggles
The Bruins’ big names have had down years thus far. Only two players on the team have more than five goals, those being captain Brad Marchand and star winger David Pastrnak. Both of them have negative plus/minuses. Pastrnak has struggled to find the back of the net like he is used to. He is on pace for under 30 goals and under 80 points; last season he put up 47 goals and 110 points, the season before 61 goals and 113 points.
Pastrnak has not finished a season with a negative plus/minus in his career, and Marchand has not since his rookie season. The Bruins need to be at their best when these two are on the ice, and that simply has not been the case so far this season. With the arrival of Lindholm, it would have been conceivable to see some struggle as the members of the Bruins’ top two lines got used to playing with one another. That adjustment time is over, however. We sit 25 games into the season, and the Bruins are currently not in a playoff spot. If they are going to figure it out, it needs to come soon.
The Bruins’ Silver Lining
The silver lining here is that one would expect the Bruins’ star players to turn it on at some point. It seems unlikely that Pastrnak will return to being under a point-per-game player. At 28, he is in the prime of his career and has played well alongside Pavel Zacha in years past. On top of that, the Bruins are deeper than they were in 2023-24. They have received meaningful contributions from depth forwards on their roster, something we have not seen enough of over the last couple of seasons. Players like Cole Koepke and Justin Brazeau have stepped up. If the Bruins’ stars begin to click, their offense could be performing at a very high level with these contributions from bottom six players.
Looking Ahead
The Bruins’ schedule to start December is manageable. They will start the month with three Original Six matchups, all of whom are currently at a below .500 points percentage. These games will be an opportunity to get rolling.
The Montreal Canadiens, who the Bruins will face tomorrow (Dec. 1), have allowed the second most goals per game in the NHL. The Bruins have scored more than three goals in regulation just once since mid-October, a stat that they will look to change against a Montreal team that has allowed 3.73 per contest a quarter of the way into the season. It feels that the Bruins are at a pivotal point in their season; if they do not turn things around during the month of December, management will likely be viewing themselves as sellers as the trade deadline approaches.
