The Boston Bruins are going into their three-day Christmas break on a high note after beating the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals, 4-1, at TD Garden Monday night.
The Bruins held the Capitals, one of the best offensive teams in the NHL, to just 11 shots on goal, the fewest they’ve allowed in a game since 1993. They overcame a David Pastrnak injury and Oliver Wahlstrom ejection and went on to dominate the third period, with each member of the Brad Marchand-Elias Lindholm-Charlie Coyle line scoring in the final seven minutes to lift Boston to victory.
The Bruins are now 4-0-1 in their last five games, and 11-4-1 since interim head coach Joe Sacco took over. They should feel legitimately good about the way they have gotten their season on track.
In the spirit of Christmas, let’s celebrate not with 12 days, but 12 takes (or observations or thoughts or whatever you want to call these):
1. All eyes on Pastrnak’s health
Let’s start with the biggest negative from Monday night. David Pastrnak left the game 8:38 into the second period and didn’t return. The Bruins officially ruled him out with an upper-body injury early in the third.
It wasn’t clear exactly when Pastrnak first suffered the injury, but he was visibly uncomfortable during a shift early in the second period. Pastrnak stopped short in the neutral zone as he braced for what looked like a pretty harmless hit from Tom Wilson, but then just stood there for a second and did a little bit of a stretch as he clearly felt something. Pastrnak talked to a trainer on the bench and then tried to keep playing, but his second shift after that lasted just 23 seconds and ended with him going right down the tunnel to the locker room.
Obviously, all eyes are now on Pastrnak’s health moving forward. Sacco did not have an update after the game. With the Bruins now completely off for three days for the Christmas break, we likely won’t get one until Friday. Marchand, in classic Marchand fashion, offered a humorous update as only he can.
Pastrnak hasn’t scored at his usual rate this season, but he is still the Bruins’ leading scorer with 35 points (12 goals, 23 assists) in 36 games. And given that the Bruins rank 26th in the NHL in scoring, they can’t afford to have their best offensive player missing time or dealing with a lingering injury.
If this is something minor, then the holiday break comes at the perfect time and gives Pastrnak a few days to rest and recuperate. If it’s something more serious, then the Bruins are going to need more total team efforts like the one they had in the third period Monday if they’re going to overcome his absence.
2. Marchand is on fire
It was a total team effort in the third period, but it was the captain leading the way. Brad Marchand set up Elias Lindholm on Boston’s second goal, generated the rebound that Charlie Coyle buried on the third, and then scored the late empty-netter to seal the win.
Marchand now has a 10-game point streak with seven goals and six assists during that time. At 36 years old, he is the oldest Bruin ever to have a 10-game point streak. It’s the third-longest point streak of Marchand’s career, and his longest since Feb. 12-March 10, 2020 (that 13-gamer got snapped not by any opponent, but rather the months-long COVID pause).
Marchand, along with so many of his teammates, got off to a slow start this season. In his case, it was understandable. He underwent three offseason surgeries and missed the start of training camp. He said over the weekend that he was in more pain than he anticipated early on.
Marchand said he still doesn’t feel like he’s fully up to speed, and isn’t sure he’ll get all the way back at any point this season. He could fool us. This recent run has looked pretty damn close to vintage Marchand.
3. Their 5-on-5 defense is legit
On Monday, the Bruins held the Capitals, a top-three offense, to their worst offensive showing of the season, especially at 5-on-5. Washington landed just seven shots on goal at even strength. Their only goal came on the power play.
Two games before that, the Bruins limited the Edmonton Oilers, another elite offense, to one of their worst offensive nights of the season. Two games before that, they shut down the Vancouver Canucks, another good offensive team, for the second time in as many weeks.
At 5-on-5, only the Minnesota Wild are allowing fewer high-danger chances than the Bruins this season. Boston ranks fifth in expected goals against. Since Sacco took over, they’re first in high-danger chances allowed and third in expected goals against.
The team defense is legit, folks. We expected it to be going into the year, but there were too many gaffes early in the season. It’s been trending in the right direction for a while, though, and they’re proving that they can frustrate even the best of opponents.
That doesn’t mean it’s perfect. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been bad nights (we haven’t forgotten about those lopsided losses in Winnipeg and Seattle two weeks ago). But on the whole, big picture, the Bruins are one of the stingiest teams in the NHL right now, whether their skeptics and critics have noticed or not.
4. The 5-minute penalty kill may have been the moment of the year
Monday night’s third period could have gone very differently. Oliver Wahlstrom, moved up in the lineup with Pastrnak out of the game, took a five-minute major for boarding just 10 seconds into the period. It wasn’t an overly vicious hit, but it was an ill-advised shove to the back just a few feet from the boards. It also resulted in an injury, which likely factored into it being a major instead of a minor.
The Washington power play entered Monday humming at 32.1% over the last 21 games. It had already scored earlier Monday. A bad penalty kill for the Bruins could have blown this game open in the Capitals’ favor.
Instead, the Boston PK made a tremendous stand and didn’t allow a single shot on goal on the five-minute power play. Charlie McAvoy had a couple big blocks. Brandon Carlo had one as well. Nikita Zadorov made a couple great defensive plays that led to clears. The Bruins even created a couple shorthanded chances.
The TD Garden crowd got louder and louder as the kill went on, rising to its feet with each clear. By the time the penalty clock hit zero, it was downright raucous, about as loud as we’ve heard the Garden this season. The Bruins carried that energy for the rest of the game, and the Capitals looked deflated. The final 15 minutes were pretty much all Boston.
Also, how about picking up the new guy? Wahlstrom obviously didn’t want to throw a hit that was going to get him ejected, and I’m sure he would’ve felt like crap if it cost the Bruins the game. Instead, he got to see his teammates bail him out and could breathe a sigh of relief. If I know hockey players, you’re going to see an A-plus effort from Wahlstrom on Friday knowing that he owes his team one.
5. They should embrace a modified goalie rotation
A month ago, I wrote about how Jeremy Swayman was struggling when he got a third or fourth consecutive start. My Skate Pod co-host Bridgette Proulx took an updated look at the situation this week, and not much has really changed: Swayman is still struggling when he gets more than two starts in a row, and Joonas Korpisalo is still playing well just about every time he gets in.
Korpisalo has straight-up been a better goalie than Swayman this season by every possible metric. I wouldn’t quite advocate for a full 50/50 rotation a la Swayman and Linus Ullmark just yet, but how about a modified rotation? Two games for Swayman, one for Korpisalo, two for Swayman, one for Korpisalo?
That seems to make all the sense in the world to me. It rewards Korpisalo for his strong play, and it maybe helps Swayman get into a better rhythm by reducing his workload. I don’t see a downside.
Sure, at some point, you want Swayman to handle a heavier workload. You expect him to be the unquestioned No. 1 in the playoffs. But he handled a No. 1 workload just fine this past spring despite not getting a starter’s workload in the regular season.
A 2-1-2-1 rotation wouldn’t have to be permanent, but if it gets the best results for the time being, why keep trying to feed Swayman three or four straight starts?
6. Geekie, Lindholm highlight individual turnarounds
A lot of Bruins have picked up their play since Sacco took over, but none moreso than Morgan Geekie and Elias Lindholm. I wrote about Geekie’s turnaround in-depth over the weekend, so I won’t repeat all of that here. Suffice to say that he was very good again Monday, assisting on the game’s opening goal and creating several turnovers with some good hits on the forecheck. Geekie now has eight points (5 goals, 3 assists) in the last nine games.
Lindholm, meanwhile, now has five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in the last five. He scored what proved to be the wining goal Monday, taking a pass from Marchand and completely faking out Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren before flipping a backhand into the yawning net.
Lindholm is helping to drive a line with Marchand and Coyle that has played very well in three games together. In their 34 5-on-5 minutes together, the Bruins have outscored opponents 3-0, have an expected goals share of 69.2%, and have a 9-3 advantage in high-danger chances.
Lindholm has been good defensively pretty much all season, but now he’s helping to create and finish more chances offensively. He’s also playing with some bite; on Monday he was mixing it up with a few different Capitals on several occasions and finished a couple good hits.
“It's nice to see,” Sacco said of Lindholm’s uptick in production. “I think that we were all… we're happy for him right now. We're expecting that from Lindy, and he seems to be finding his game as well right now. These guys, like they play a 200-foot game, but they want to get their offense going, too. Lindy's an offensive player as well. So, when they start putting some points on the board, they feel better about themselves as individuals, they help the team more as collectively as a group. So, he just seems to be finding his game.”
7. Trading Frederic now wouldn’t make much sense
So, Geekie and Lindholm have picked it up. Coyle and Pavel Zacha have had some big games recently as well. The next forward the Bruins would love to see get going is Trent Frederic.
Since scoring two goals back on Dec. 7, Frederic has gone seven games without a point. Sacco moved him to center the last two games with Wahlstrom and Justin Brazeau on his wings, but that line just hasn’t clicked.
The combination of Frederic’s slow start and his expiring contract has led to plenty of rumors and speculation regarding a possible trade. To which I would respond: Unless Don Sweeney gets absolutely blown away by an offer, why would he do that right now?
Frederic’s value is at a low point, and the trade deadline is more than two months away. The Bruins don’t have to make any kind of decision on Frederic at the moment. They have plenty of time to see if his play picks up, to see if anything changes in their contract talks, and to see what kind of team they are in a month and a half or two months and what their needs might be.
If nothing changes for the better, then sure, you have to listen to all offers. And there will still be offers. Playoff teams are always looking for big, physical, versatile forwards like Frederic for their bottom six. But those attributes are also what could still make him valuable to the Bruins this season if they keep trending up and his game eventually follows suit.
8. Two situations around the league that are worth monitoring
Speaking of trade possibilities, my Skate Pod co-host Brian DeFelice brought up two situations on our most recent episode (listen above) that the Bruins should absolutely be keeping tabs on: Chris Kreider with the New York Rangers, and the J.T. Miller-Elias Pettersson drama with the Vancouver Canucks.
Let’s start with Kreider. We know the veteran winger is available because Rangers general manager Chris Drury included his name in a firesale memo to other GMs. The Rangers have already traded away Jacob Trouba and Kaapo Kakko as their season continues to slip away. Then they healthy-scratched Kreider on Monday and the tailspin continued with a 5-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils in which they landed just 12 shots on goal.
Kreider is almost certainly going to get traded, and he could still help a contender’s top six if a change of scenery gets his game back on track. He has 11 goals in 30 games this season, but just one assist and some poor underlying metrics. Kreider is signed for two more years after this with a $6.5 million cap hit. Given how directionless the Rangers look and how unhappy they seem to be with Kreider, you wonder if someone might be able to get him at a discount – both in terms of trade package and with the Rangers possibly retaining some salary.
If you want to dream a little bit bigger, look to Vancouver. Miller and Pettersson, the Canucks’ top two centers, apparently have some sort of ongoing feud that is now starting to affect the team. The topic got fueled over the weekend by commentary from the likes of Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman and former Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau.
Obviously, the Canucks’ priority right now is to get the two stars to work through whatever their issues are so they can co-exist, even if they’re never going to be best buds. But if this gets bad enough that the Canucks feel the need to trade one of them, the Bruins might want to start preparing an offer now.
Miller and Pettersson are both legitimate No. 1 centers, which happens to remain the Bruins’ biggest need. Miller had 103 points last season and 99 two years before that. Pettersson had 102 points two years ago and 89 last season. Miller is 31 and signed through 2030, but his cap hit is a reasonable (for a player of his caliber) $8 million. Pettersson makes $11.6 million a year through 2032, but he is just 26 and has many years of his prime left.
Centers like that just aren’t made available very often. It’s possible neither Miller nor Pettersson will be. But if one of them is, the Bruins should take a long, hard look at what it would take to get him.
9. Oesterle deserves some recognition
I feel like absolutely nobody is talking about Jordan Oesterle. We probably should be, because the veteran defenseman has been doing a fine job filling in for the injured Hampus Lindholm.
Oesterle has now played 14 games and is averaging 18:16 time on ice. He’s not doing anything flashy offensively (0 goals, 3 assists), but he is playing solid defense and moving the puck well in transition. On Monday, he made a great play to break up a 2-on-1 in the first period and came up with a big block on a Jakob Chychrun one-timer in the second.
Oesterle’s 5-on-5 analytics have been impressive. He ranks in the top five on the Bruins in Corsi (52.6%), goals-for share (57.1%), expected goals share (55.0%), and high-danger share (58.2%).
He’s not just doing it in a third-pairing role either. In fact, Oesterle has been used mostly in a top-four role under Sacco, pairing with either Charlie McAvoy or, more recently, Brandon Carlo. His veteran smarts made him a good fit as a security blanket next to McAvoy, and his skating and puck-moving also make him a good fit with the less mobile Carlo.
We’ll have to see what Oesterle’s role ends up being when Lindholm returns, but that may still be a ways off anyways. At the very least, the Bruins clearly have themselves a good depth defenseman that they should be able to trust moving forward. That’s never a bad thing.
10. Poitras is going to come back stronger and better
What if the Bruins actually handled the Matt Poitras situation perfectly? Listen, I was as skeptical as the next person when it came to the decision to send the 20-year-old center to Providence six weeks ago. I thought he was playing pretty well and could work through whatever issues he had while remaining in Boston.
That said, Poitras is getting better in Providence. The point totals are obvious: after a slow start in the AHL, he now has 13 points (7 goals, 6 assists) in his last 10 games. But he’s also playing more minutes, in more situations, and improving his conditioning, strength and endurance.
That was really Poitras’s most noticeable issue in Boston. He was getting worn down. He was taking a lot of big hits. He was getting caught out for long shifts that he couldn’t finish strong.
If Poitras comes back to Boston, whenever that is, in a better place physically and feeling good about his game thanks to his AHL production, that’s only going to be a good thing for the Bruins in the long run. And, his absence hasn’t hurt Boston the way some feared. They have turned their season around and started playing better hockey without him.
11. Better effort = better discipline
The Bruins still lead the NHL in penalty minutes and minor penalties taken, but that’s largely still the fallout of just how many they were taking early in the season. Through the first 14 games of the season, they were giving opponents an absurd 4.5 power-play opportunities per game.
Over the last 22 games, they have cut that down to a way more manageable 2.5 power plays per game. They are tied for 20th in the NHL in minor penalties taken during that time.
So, have they just started playing smarter? Yes, that’s part of it. But another big part of the equation is that they’re bringing a better, more consistent effort on a nightly basis. They’re playing faster and working to get on the right side of the puck so they can play the body cleanly instead of constantly chasing the play and lunging at opponents with their sticks.
12. They should comfortably make the playoffs
The Bruins were outside the playoff field when Jim Montgomery got fired on Nov. 19. A little over a month later, they are pretty comfortably inside the top eight in the East. By points percentage, they are the first wild card team, four points ahead of the eighth-place Ottawa Senators (who have two games in hand) and five points ahead of the ninth-place Pittsburgh Penguins (who have played the same number of games as Boston).
The Bruins are technically two points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for third place in the Atlantic Division, but the Lightning have played four fewer games and are ahead of the Bruins on points percentage (.625 to .583).
Things can change, but the Eastern Conference just doesn’t look very deep this year. Is there anyone outside the current top eight that you’d pick to go on a run in the second half? I can’t find one. The Rangers are the flashiest name, but they really are an absolute dumpster fire right now. Good luck with that.
And unlike all those teams behind them, the Bruins are trending up. Since the coaching change, they are tied with the New Jersey Devils for the best record in the conference at 11-4-1 (.719 points percentage). Only the Edmonton Oilers (12-3-0) and Vegas Golden Knights (12-3-1) have better records league-wide.
There absolutely was a time earlier this season when it was fair to wonder if the Bruins might actually miss the playoffs. That worst-case scenario seems pretty unlikely now. Not only are the Bruins going to make the playoffs, but if they keep playing the way that they have been recently and make the right moves at the trade deadline, they might even be able to make some noise.