Mick Colageo, Boston Hockey Now:
Through November 23rd, the Bruins had the NHL’s best goals-against average (2.08), save pct. (.933), penalty kill (.910) and goal differential (25).
My, what a difference a busy month makes.
Today the Boston Bruins are only six points ahead of the best record outside the playoffs; they hold two games in hand on Carolina, but will they win them?
Given their propensity – or by now is it a belief building in their opponents – to allow late-period goals, their inability to win a crucial defensive-zone draw has become a barnacle so heavy that it makes the ship list.
Friday night in Winnipeg was a stinker, the kind they were relieved to put behind them within 24 hours. Only an honest effort on Saturday in Minnesota was just as pointless.
What has changed? Lots of things. First, the predictable stuff:
Brad Marchand has hit a rough patch; nothing is happening for him at 5 on 5. If he is healthy, this will turn around.
David Pastrnak, tied for third in NHL scoring through Thanksgiving (12-17-29 in 18GP) has cooled off. At 8-7-15 in his last 14GP, his current point-per-game pace is still best in Boston.
At Thanksgiving, mainstay centermen Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha both had scored 7 goals and ranked among the NHL’s top 25 sharp shooters at 22.6% (15th) and 20.6% (23rd), respectively. Since Thanksgiving, Coyle has 3 goals, Zacha 1, and both have fallen off the top-30 shot-pct. chart.
James van Riemsdyk was 5-8-13 in 18GP through Thanksgiving; in 13 games since, he has scored one powerplay goal (6-15-21 in 31GP).
At 4-5-9 in his first 18 NHL games, Matt Poitras was tied for eighth in rookie scoring at Thanksgiving. He was 1-3-4 in his last 9GP and is spending Christmas in Sweden playing for Canada at the World Junior Championships.
Remember when three goals were guaranteed? Four times in their last eight games the Boston Bruins have been held to one goal.
Now for the less predictable:
Linus Ullmark started the season 7-1-1 with a 2.10 GAA and .932 save pct.; he is 3-4-1 in his last eight and his 2.87/.900 are middle-of-the-pack numbers. While Jeremy Swayman has only won one of his last five starts (1-2-2), his Thanksgiving stats (2.09/.933) stats are still handsome at Christmas: 2.25 (NHL 3rd) and .928 (tied for 2nd).
Of most intrigue in this space is the plight of Charlie McAvoy, who since his suspension for a miss-hit on Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been somewhat shy to risk penalties and has become a bullseye for opponents’ false courage.
Even the 73 on McAvoy’s back is taking a beating. The Bruins’ most important player is under siege. His point-per-game pace through Thanksgiving (3-10-13, +4 in 14GP) is way off the rails. Over his last 10, McAvoy has struggled to produce 5 assists and played minus-11 hockey.
Through the Bruins’ slide, neither he nor Hampus Lindholm (1-6-7, +1) have been able to support the forwards. Montgomery’s four-man attack, the basis of Boston’s offense, is sputtering.
There are many more data points that Bruins management will look hard at before the NHL’s roster freeze ends with Wednesday’s game in Buffalo.
No doubt tweaks are in order, but this is about more in my opinion.
I believe that, as Montgomery alluded before the wagon went off the rails, the NHL gets harder with every month and that, while the points the Bruins banked are invaluable, the task is not about restoring an order. It’s about manning up to the competition, which keeps stiffening.
The Boston Bruins need a left-shot, top-four defenseman with a physical edge that can ease the game for McAvoy. He doesn’t have to match Matt Grzelcyk’s speed on the retrieval, but he must be quicker than Derek Forbort, whose nagging injury has the PK specialist on LTIR.
After dropping six straight, is Ottawa’s interim GM Steve Staios (or a potential successor) desperate enough to consider parting with Jakob Chychrun, for instance?
I’ve heard/read the argument that the Boston Bruins need secondary scoring, and if hockey were played on paper I would agree. But it’s played on ice, with boards and plexiglass in hard equipment at high speed and often violently.
Finding a mercenary’s 25-goal stick might help the Bruins extend some leads and make them a slightly more comfortable regular-season team, but if there is a winger out there who can augment the top six with a menacing forecheck, sign me up over an aggregate approach eight days a week. ...
With the offseason loss so many forwards, I thought Georgii Merkulov would make Boston’s opening-night roster.
Like many deflated hopefuls, it’s taken Merkulov some time to rediscover his scoring touch, but with 8-6-14 scoring totals in his last eight games, the P-Bruins center was among the top scorers in the AHL at 13-15-28 in 30 GP.
According to eagle eye Mark Divver (rinksiderhodeisland.com), Merkulov has taken a major step this year in his play without the puck. In an interview with Bruins flagship radio station 98.5 The Sports Hub, Divver called him “a classic, Russian center.”
When I think of the classic Russian center, I think of Detroit’s Magic Man, Pavel Datsyuk, who only went 5-11 and 194 but was rock solid in the tight areas of the rink. Merkulov, who shoots right (Datsyuk shot left), goes 5-11 and 176.
I’d be lying, though, if I didn’t admit when Merkulov gets in tight on the net and rifles a backhand over the glove he reminds me of Datsyuk. ...
Through November 23rd, the Bruins had the NHL’s best goals-against average (2.08), save pct. (.933), penalty kill (.910) and goal differential (25).
My, what a difference a busy month makes.
Today the Boston Bruins are only six points ahead of the best record outside the playoffs; they hold two games in hand on Carolina, but will they win them?
Given their propensity – or by now is it a belief building in their opponents – to allow late-period goals, their inability to win a crucial defensive-zone draw has become a barnacle so heavy that it makes the ship list.
Friday night in Winnipeg was a stinker, the kind they were relieved to put behind them within 24 hours. Only an honest effort on Saturday in Minnesota was just as pointless.
What has changed? Lots of things. First, the predictable stuff:
Brad Marchand has hit a rough patch; nothing is happening for him at 5 on 5. If he is healthy, this will turn around.
David Pastrnak, tied for third in NHL scoring through Thanksgiving (12-17-29 in 18GP) has cooled off. At 8-7-15 in his last 14GP, his current point-per-game pace is still best in Boston.
At Thanksgiving, mainstay centermen Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha both had scored 7 goals and ranked among the NHL’s top 25 sharp shooters at 22.6% (15th) and 20.6% (23rd), respectively. Since Thanksgiving, Coyle has 3 goals, Zacha 1, and both have fallen off the top-30 shot-pct. chart.
James van Riemsdyk was 5-8-13 in 18GP through Thanksgiving; in 13 games since, he has scored one powerplay goal (6-15-21 in 31GP).
At 4-5-9 in his first 18 NHL games, Matt Poitras was tied for eighth in rookie scoring at Thanksgiving. He was 1-3-4 in his last 9GP and is spending Christmas in Sweden playing for Canada at the World Junior Championships.
Remember when three goals were guaranteed? Four times in their last eight games the Boston Bruins have been held to one goal.
Now for the less predictable:
Linus Ullmark started the season 7-1-1 with a 2.10 GAA and .932 save pct.; he is 3-4-1 in his last eight and his 2.87/.900 are middle-of-the-pack numbers. While Jeremy Swayman has only won one of his last five starts (1-2-2), his Thanksgiving stats (2.09/.933) stats are still handsome at Christmas: 2.25 (NHL 3rd) and .928 (tied for 2nd).
Of most intrigue in this space is the plight of Charlie McAvoy, who since his suspension for a miss-hit on Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been somewhat shy to risk penalties and has become a bullseye for opponents’ false courage.
Even the 73 on McAvoy’s back is taking a beating. The Bruins’ most important player is under siege. His point-per-game pace through Thanksgiving (3-10-13, +4 in 14GP) is way off the rails. Over his last 10, McAvoy has struggled to produce 5 assists and played minus-11 hockey.
Through the Bruins’ slide, neither he nor Hampus Lindholm (1-6-7, +1) have been able to support the forwards. Montgomery’s four-man attack, the basis of Boston’s offense, is sputtering.
There are many more data points that Bruins management will look hard at before the NHL’s roster freeze ends with Wednesday’s game in Buffalo.
No doubt tweaks are in order, but this is about more in my opinion.
I believe that, as Montgomery alluded before the wagon went off the rails, the NHL gets harder with every month and that, while the points the Bruins banked are invaluable, the task is not about restoring an order. It’s about manning up to the competition, which keeps stiffening.
The Boston Bruins need a left-shot, top-four defenseman with a physical edge that can ease the game for McAvoy. He doesn’t have to match Matt Grzelcyk’s speed on the retrieval, but he must be quicker than Derek Forbort, whose nagging injury has the PK specialist on LTIR.
After dropping six straight, is Ottawa’s interim GM Steve Staios (or a potential successor) desperate enough to consider parting with Jakob Chychrun, for instance?
I’ve heard/read the argument that the Boston Bruins need secondary scoring, and if hockey were played on paper I would agree. But it’s played on ice, with boards and plexiglass in hard equipment at high speed and often violently.
Finding a mercenary’s 25-goal stick might help the Bruins extend some leads and make them a slightly more comfortable regular-season team, but if there is a winger out there who can augment the top six with a menacing forecheck, sign me up over an aggregate approach eight days a week. ...
With the offseason loss so many forwards, I thought Georgii Merkulov would make Boston’s opening-night roster.
Like many deflated hopefuls, it’s taken Merkulov some time to rediscover his scoring touch, but with 8-6-14 scoring totals in his last eight games, the P-Bruins center was among the top scorers in the AHL at 13-15-28 in 30 GP.
According to eagle eye Mark Divver (rinksiderhodeisland.com), Merkulov has taken a major step this year in his play without the puck. In an interview with Bruins flagship radio station 98.5 The Sports Hub, Divver called him “a classic, Russian center.”
When I think of the classic Russian center, I think of Detroit’s Magic Man, Pavel Datsyuk, who only went 5-11 and 194 but was rock solid in the tight areas of the rink. Merkulov, who shoots right (Datsyuk shot left), goes 5-11 and 176.
I’d be lying, though, if I didn’t admit when Merkulov gets in tight on the net and rifles a backhand over the glove he reminds me of Datsyuk. ...
