AndThere hasn’t been a team in NHL history to win as consistently at this stage of the season like this Boston team. In a trademark late fashion, the Boston Bruins continued their unprecedented and frankly unsustainable winning run as they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in the Winter Classic.
There aren’t many superlatives I can use to describe the brilliance of this Bruins team anymore.
Whether it’s the offense, the defense, or the goaltending, there isn’t a glaring weakness or even a minor issue with this Bruins roster. The offense has scored the 2nd most goals across the entire league (140 GF), the defense has allowed the least number of goals (83 GA), and the goaltending has an average SV% of .918, an average GAA of 2.18, 976 combined saves, and 2 combined shutouts.
And all of those goaltending stats include the shaky numbers of Jeremy Swayman (.897 SV%, 2.68 GAA, 288 saves, 0 SO), who probably has been the weakest link on the team this season.
Nevertheless, with fantastic stats like those it’s easy to see why the Bruins currently sit 1# in the Atlantic Division, 1# in the Eastern Conference, and 1# in the entire NHL with 29 wins, just 4 losses, and 4 OTL losses for 62 points and a 6-point gap on the next highest team.
However, what makes this turnaround from last season in which the Bruins finished 8th in the Eastern Conference so strange is the fact that this roster isn’t all that much different. Aside from the addition of Pavel Zacha, a 35-year-old David Krejci, and the departure of Erik Haula, the Bruins roster is almost identical to the one that finished in the 8th and final East playoff spot and then was knocked out in the First Round by the Carolina Hurricanes.
Well, everything is the same except for the most important aspect of the roster: the coaching staff.
Yes, this impressive turnaround from a team that looked dead set on dropping out of the playoff hunt for the first time in six years to a team destined for Stanley Cup glory has been down to the tactics of new head coach Jim Montgomery.
Abandoning the rigid, defensive strategy of former HC Bruce Cassidy (who is doing quite well in Vegas right now), Montgomery has allowed the forward and defensive core to attack with far more freedom than Cassidy ever allowed.
And that freedom has resulted in star players like Patrice Bergeron (15 G, 15 AST, 30 PTS), David Pastrnak (25 G, 25 AST, 50 PTS), David Krejci (10 G, 18 AST, 28 PTS), Brad Marchand (10 G, 21 AST, 31 PTS), Hampus Lindholm (4 G, 23 AST, 27 PTS), and Charlie McAvoy (2 G, 17 AST, 19 PTS) on pace for career years, while role players like Taylor Hall (13 G, 15 AST, 28 PTS), Jake DeBrusk (16 G, 14 AST, 30 PTS), Charlie Coyle (9 G, 10 AST, 19 PTS), and Pavel Zacha (5 G, 18 AST, 23 PTS) have also been able to get in on the scoring in a major way.
Now, as many Bruins fans know, the lack of production from secondary scorers has been the Achilles heel of this team for years.
And that secondary scoring was the reason why they beat the Penguins at the Winter Classic. With the local Fenway Park crowd cheering on, the Bruins were able to get a boost of momentum late on in the 3rd period from the two late goals Jake DeBrusk scored, resulting in the B’s being the first team to win three Winter Classics in NHL history.
Still, the Bruins have been getting away with playing poorly in the first two periods and then getting a boost of momentum to take the game away from their opponents in the final period. This uncanny luck is bound to run out sooner or later if the Bruins don’t improve their starts as they have found themselves down 1-0 in 3 of their last 5 games.
I really believe this team can go on and win that elusive second Stanely Cup for the old guard core (Bergeron, Marchand, Krejci) this season as they have the talent and defensive prowess to compete with the best teams in the league but going behind so early and often will come back and hurt them at some point.
I just hope it isn’t in a crucial moment of the season.
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