Boston's scoring distribution is off to a fascinating start.

Merrrlin

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Jul 2, 2019
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I am very interested in the resurgence of God-tier lines dominating, and Boston is an excellent example of this.

Have a gander at their current point distribution:

upload_2019-10-17_10-52-46.png


Compared to another contender, Carolina:

upload_2019-10-17_10-53-18.png


Scoring distribution, by team rank.

upload_2019-10-17_10-52-10.png


You can see that there is a pretty even distribution of points across multiple lines, with a large gap between Carolina's 5th-8th scorers compared to the Boston equivalent.

Top 3 scorers:
  • Boston - 59%
  • Carolina - 35%

Might be something to keep an eye on....some general questions I have are:

  • Has Boston proven to us that good defence/golatending and 1 dominant line are enough to carry a team (as opposed to the "spread the wealth" strategy of offence)
  • Is this Boston line going to go down as a legendary line? Which lines in recent times would you compare them to?
  • Should more teams be loading up a top line and focusing on limiting scoring chances against with the other lines?
 
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tsujimoto74

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May 28, 2012
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I feel like the line needs a good nickname if it's gonna be remembered as a line for the ages, like the Legion of Doom or the French Connection.
 

BlackFrancis

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Dec 14, 2013
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Pretty sure the same thing happened last season, in that no one aside from the first line could score until after Thanksgiving. I swear the 4th line didn't score a goal for two months at one point.

You didn't provide a link for the scoring distribution graphs, otherwise I'd check it myself.
 

Merrrlin

Grab the 9 iron, Barry!
Jul 2, 2019
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Pretty sure the same thing happened last season, in that no one aside from the first line could score until after Thanksgiving. I swear the 4th line didn't score a goal for two months at one point.

You didn't provide a link for the scoring distribution graphs, otherwise I'd check it myself.

I made them based on tables I pulled from hockey-reference.com
 
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tarheelhockey

Offside Review Specialist
Feb 12, 2010
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To topic -- it's always a bit dangerous to have your eggs entirely in one basket. That line has dominated consistently for a long time, so they seem like a relatively safe bet, but you're one slump or injury away from having a serious problem competing.

Also, the comparison to Carolina is a bit skewed considering the Canes' top line has been ice-cold to start the season. We already have a thread on Aho.
 
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alg363636

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Apr 25, 2014
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Which is ironic because Boston's depth scoring was one of the main reasons they made it to game 7.

Clearly Boston is good enough to go all the way with what they have. If that line had shown up/been healthy in the SCF series they probably would have won. They have 3 strong lines (I'd argue the second line is weak) even if it doesn't always show up on the scoreboard in the regular season. I don't think you can have one great line and 3 shitty lines and still win.
 

Merrrlin

Grab the 9 iron, Barry!
Jul 2, 2019
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To topic -- it's always a bit dangerous to have your eggs entirely in one basket. That line has dominated consistently for a long time, so they seem like a relatively safe bet, but you're one slump or injury away from having a serious problem competing.

Also, the comparison to Carolina is a bit skewed considering the Canes' top line has been ice-cold to start the season. We already have a thread on Aho.

Aho's slump doesn't skew the data too much - here's 2018, it's a similar distribution to this season so with a sharper drop after the top 2, but a pretty even drop throughout the rest of the roster.

upload_2019-10-17_11-25-2.png
 
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Trap Jesus

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Feb 13, 2012
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What it's been so far just reaffirms everyone's thoughts about what they think the team is (just a one-line team).

Watching them though, I do think Coyle has been way better than his stat-line suggests. Krejci and DeBrusk have clearly struggled along with Kuhlman on that line. They should be able to pick it up, hopefully Krejci's health doesn't derail that. DeBrusk reasonably should be the Bruins big breakout player this year with his contract situation, but maybe not.
 

Kamiccolo

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Aug 30, 2011
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The OP asked a good question, I wish there were more answers rather than jokes.

Not just Boston, but Avs had like 1 good line last year and made some noise. Is hot goaltending and a line that can seem to score at will really better than a balanced lineup like the Islanders last year for example?
 

Merrrlin

Grab the 9 iron, Barry!
Jul 2, 2019
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What it's been so far just reaffirms everyone's thoughts about what they think the team is (just a one-line team).

Watching them though, I do think Coyle has been way better than his stat-line suggests. Krejci and DeBrusk have clearly struggled along with Kuhlman on that line. They should be able to pick it up, hopefully Krejci's health doesn't derail that. DeBrusk reasonably should be the Bruins big breakout player this year with his contract situation, but maybe not.

I'm kind of surprised that McAvoy and DeBrusk are off to slow starts. A lot can change with this kind of sample size, though. 2 big games each and they are back on track.
 

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