Perhaps writing off the Bruins a quarter of the way through an 82-game season was a bit premature.
There’s no doubt the Bruins got off to a tough start. They racked up some wins against bad teams, but couldn’t seem to beat any good ones. They were in playoff position, but weren’t playing like a team that could challenge many of the teams above them. They were getting few contributions from any lines other than their first.
But the thing about an 82-game season is that there’s a lot of time to make changes and try to improve. For the Bruins, the two-week unplanned break they got due to COVID-19 is proving to be just the reset they needed.
After beating the Capitals 7-3 Monday night, the Bruins are now 5-1-0 since the pause. They have outscored their opponents 28-15 in that time, including 22-12 at 5-on-5. Their last two wins have come on the road against two of the better teams in the NHL in Tampa Bay and Washington.
Most encouragingly, their new-look lines continue to pay dividends with goals up and down the lineup. Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, now on different lines, have led the way, with each of them scoring two more goals on Monday.
Marchand, who had his nose busted by a high stick earlier in the game, now has five goals in the last three games. He also set up Pastrnak’s power-play goal. Pastrnak now has four goals in the last two games and five in the last four.
New linemate Taylor Hall set up Pastrnak’s second goal on a 2-on-1. Hall also set up his other new linemate, Erik Haula, for a goal. Hall has eight points (2 goals, 6 assists) in six games since that line was put together. Haula is riding a five-game point streak.
“I love playing with Pasta,” Hall said after the game. “Last year, getting to this team, getting a chance to play with him a little bit in practice, things like that, he’s such a great player. He has a real good hockey sense, real good way of getting open and staying open. For me, I had a lot of success in Jersey with a guy like [Kyle] Palmieri, a shooter like that. Obviously Pasta’s a Rocket Richard winner and a guy who has put up a lot of points in this league. So it’s been fun.”
The bottom six didn’t score a goal on Monday, but they did set up two. Anton Blidh forced a turnover in the neutral zone that led to a goal for Matt Grzelcyk. Then Curtis Lazar made a great play to wrap behind the net and set up Craig Smith on the doorstep for another.
Oh, and speaking of Grzelcyk: He had five points. A goal and four assists. He became the first Bruins defenseman to record five points in a game since Ray Bourque did it in on Jan. 2 (not Jan. 1 as the graphic below says), 1994, three days before Grzelcyk was born.
What else? Patrice Bergeron didn’t have a point, but he did save a goal by covering for Linus Ullmark and getting in front of an Evgeny Kuznetsov shot. Speaking of Ullmark, he’s now 8-2-0 in his last 10 starts with a .925 save percentage. The Bruins’ two power-play goals give them four in the last three games after going six games without one.
Will this success continue? Will the Bruins keep scoring like this? Are they suddenly Stanley Cup contenders? Who knows. Just like it was too early to give up on them, it’s too early to make any bold proclamations like that.
But they’re a heck of a fun team to watch right now, and dominating the Lightning and Capitals in back-to-back road games is an impressive feat. If you had tuned the Bruins out, it might be time to check back in.
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