Boston Bruins
“I feel the adversity helped us early on.”
Cam Neely mentioned what many have been eager about the strengths and limitations of this Bruins roster forward of puck drop on the 2025-26 season.
Boston may presumably solely go up from final 12 months’s distress.
And with a bounce-back marketing campaign from Jeremy Swayman — coupled with the return of each Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm from damage — Boston’s porous protection was seemingly shored up this fall.
The higher concern rested down the opposite finish of the ice. Sure, the Bruins nonetheless boasted an elite offensive power in David Pastrnak, in addition to a 30-goal breakout skater in Morgan Geekie.
However on a Bruins depth chart inundated with unproven prospects, trade-chip castoff, and gamers identified extra for his or her brawn their scoring contact, it regarded as if unlocking Boston’s scoring capabilities was destined to be arduous endeavor all 12 months lengthy.
“I imply, if it’s 2-1 video games that now we have to play to win, after which we’re going to have to do this,” Neely mentioned in Boston’s start-of-season press convention. “I feel you talked about Swayman. I imply, clearly him and camp all camp this 12 months, I feel definitely goes to bode nicely for the workforce.
“We do acknowledge we could have slightly hassle scoring some targets, however I feel defensively, we are able to definitely play significantly better. Clearly, McAvoy and Hampus wholesome are going to be a giant a part of our again finish, however I feel we’re going to be very powerful out this 12 months. We’re anticipating to play very onerous each recreation.”
Neely was proper. In some regards.
Swayman has regained his type as one of many prime netminders within the league with a .913 save percentage and a 19.4 goals saved above expected rate.
A wholesome McAvoy and Lindholm have elevated Boston’s D corps, particularly alongside one other foundational piece in Nikita Zadorov.
And sure, the Bruins are successful video games — with Thursday’s victory over the Jets marking the workforce’s fourth in a row.
However they’re not grinding out factors by way of 2-1 nail-bitters.
In a season the place Marco Sturm and his ragtag, scrappy roster has largely exceeded expectations by means of 32 video games, one of many prime surprises has been an offense that’s removed from the one-dimensional, punchless unit it was feared to be.
Because the Bruins presently sit second within the Atlantic Division with 38 factors (19-13-0), Boston’s means to remain afloat in a log-jammed convention slate has been buoyed by a diverse O-zone assault that now ranks ninth within the league with 3.28 targets scored per recreation.
It’s a large soar from a Bruins workforce that ranked twenty seventh within the league in that very same class final 12 months (2.71 targets per recreation).
For Sturm and his workforce, the foundation of Boston’s success amid this turnaround continues to be mounted on a stingy defensive construction, stout goaltending, and a hard-nosed, unyielding id that has acquired loads of buy-in throughout the dressing room.
However because the Bruins proceed to maintain stacking wins, one of many prime anticipated flaws on this roster has been something however so far as Boston’s means to make opponents pay in their very own finish.
”We have been actually stingy within the impartial zone,” McAvoy — taking part in in his first recreation since struggling a jaw fracture on Nov. 15 — mentioned Thursday. “We don’t actually permit a very good rush workforce to get many rush alternatives. We broke the puck out actually successfully. After which we’re opportunistic.
“Particular groups is nice. After which after we’re in a position to trigger turnovers within the impartial zone, we scored a pair off them. In order that’s type of our M.O., type of the recipe for after we’re having success.”
To little shock, the Bruins’ large weapons have led the best way throughout this scoring surge.
Recent off of lacking 5 video games with a nagging damage, Pastrnak has showcased little rust out on the ice — posting a whopping seven factors (two targets, 5 assists) in his two video games since getting cleared for motion.
“He’s a fairly good hockey participant,” Sturm mentioned of Pastrnak after Thursday’s 6-3 win. “He’s a particular participant. And solely these sorts of gamers can do it.”
Pastrnak’s continued brilliance — coupled with Geekie’s continued ascension as an elite sniper with 22 tallies on the 12 months — deservedly steals loads of headlines with regards to Boston’s strides within the O-zone.
However the revival of Boston’s energy play has additionally paid dividends beneath the watch of latest assistant coach Steve Spott.
After cashing in on simply 15.2 % of their power-play bids final season (twenty ninth general), the Bruins are changing on 27.0 % of their alternatives on the person benefit this 12 months — good for fourth within the league.
Boston went 2-for-2 on Thursday towards Winnipeg, with Pastrnak snapping a shot previous Eric Comrie for his twelfth objective of the season.
With Pastrnak working extra as a rover than a stationary taking pictures presence on the left circle, Boston’s energy play has been way more unpredictable towards shorthanded items — particularly with one other Geekie additionally flanking netminders from his sturdy aspect.
Add in Boston’s second PP unit cashing in on Thursday — with Mason Lohrei feeding Casey Mittelstadt with a slick feed by means of the crease within the first interval — and Boston seemingly has a constant supply of scoring punch on days the place 5-on-5 offense dries up.
Granted, the Bruins haven’t needed to fret a lot with regards to secondary scoring at 5-on-5 play, with 10 completely different skaters on Boston’s roster already scoring at the least 5 targets on the season.
It wouldn’t have been a stretch this summer time to check a Bruins offense bouncing again behind a revamped energy play and gamers like Pastrnak and Geekie dealing with a lot of the scoring burden.
However few anticipated a Bruins roster the place a second line of Pavel Zacha, Casey Mittelstadt, and Viktor Arvidsson are all on tempo to attain round 20 tallies this season. And the event of longtime AHLer Alex Steeves right into a authentic middle-six cog in Boston’s lineup has additionally been a welcome sight.
Mark Kastelic now sits simply two factors away from tying his career-high with 14 factors on the 12 months, whereas Tanner Jeannot has already equaled his scoring whole (13 factors) from all of final 12 months with the Kings.
Add within the promising play of children like Fraser Minten (six targets, 11 factors) and veterans like Elias Lindholm (20 factors in 22 video games), and Sean Kuraly (three factors in final two video games), and Boston’s whole ahead corps appears to be pulling on the rope thus far this season.
It’s to be anticipated for Boston’s scoring capabilities to undergo some extra ups and downs because the season carries on.
However Pastrnak believes the peaks and valleys already traversed by this present workforce has them steeled for what awaits as this workforce continues to defy expectations.
“We’ve had so [much] adversity already this season. … I feel the adversity helped us early on,” Pastrnak mentioned. “Making an attempt to belief the system — irrespective of who’s in or [out] the lineup. … Clearly, it’s been working.”
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