Bruins' league-worst penalty issues kill them again in loss to Stars
Another game, another parade to the box. That's just how things are going this year for the Boston Bruins.
It was no different Thursday night when the Bruins took five penalties that helped seal their 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.
In the early moments of the game, the Bruins appeared to be on a bounce-back after a tough game in Nashville. They scored first and seemed to have more energy. But the second period was when it all started to fall apart, in large part due to penalties that resulted in three power-play goals for Dallas.
It was just another example of how much Boston's lack of discipline has hurt them this season. And when it comes to how bad the Bruins' discipline has been, the numbers don't lie.
How bad are the Bruins' penalty numbers?
For fans who have followed the Bruins' rocky first eight games of the season, this stat should come as no surprise: the Bruins lead the league in penalty minutes with 110 through eight games.
Though the Bruins' penalty kill had been handling the high volume of penalties pretty well, things changed Thursday when the Bruins allowed goals on three of their five penalty kills. Because of those goals allowed to Dallas' power play, the Bruins' penalty kill percentage dropped from eighth to 19th in the NHL, falling from 82.9% to 77.5%.
Three Bruins now rank in the top 15 players in penalty minutes, and for one of them it's unfamiliar territory.
Who are the Bruins' worst penalty culprits?
Early on, Nikita Zadorov seems to be on pace to finish towards the front of the pack in penalty minutes this season, as he did last season when he had a career-high 125 penalty minutes and finished sixth in that category. As of Thursday night, Zadorov is tied with Montreal's Mike Matheson for the league lead in penalty minutes with 21 so far. He has been in the box at least once in seven of the Bruins' eight games.
Whereas Zadorov being in penalty trouble already doesn't come as much of a shock, there is one Bruin who seems to be committing more penalties now than at any other time in his 11-season career in Boston: David Pastrnak.
"I honestly can't remember taking this many penalties in my career," Pastrnak said after committing two penalties in Thursday's loss to Dallas. It was Pastrnak's second multi-penalty night and his fifth game out of eight that he's found himself in the box.
As of Thursday night, Pastrnak has more penalties this season than he does points, with seven penalties and six points this year.
Both Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy have accumulated 14 penalty minutes so far, earning them a tie for 12th-most penalty minutes in the league this season.
Next on the list is the captain, Brad Marchand. Marchand's frustrations boiled over again Thursday when he took two penalties including an outburst against Ilya Lyubushkin, whom he cross-checked in the third period when the Bruins were down by two. In total, Marchand has taken six penalties and has 12 penalty minutes.
Why are the Bruins off to such an undisciplined start?
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery attributed the Boston's collective lack of confidence and attitude as a main reason for the team's frustration, lack of discipline and underwhelming results.
"It's quite significant. Our attitudes need to go in a better, healthier direction," Montgomery said Thursday.
"Our attitudes are not in the moment. They're on results. And when your attitude is on results, you tend to take too many penalties because you get frustrated quickly and you tend to turn the puck over."
The Bruins got off to much better starts each of the previous two seasons, and right now find themselves with a winning percentage under .500 for the first time in a while. Here's what Marchand said about why this start has been more difficult:
"Sometimes it's tough when you have a lot of turnover a couple years in a row to try and find that chemistry. Obviously there were a lot of guys that missed important days in camp and that can change how a team comes together.
"A lot of the mistakes that we're making and the reasons that we feel we're losing is because of our lack of respect for the game and consistency and details," Marchand added. "And those are things you can fix. When you have a lack of effort and guys caring, that's a whole different issue, and that's not what we have."
How do they fix it?
Most of the fixes are pretty obvious. Take fewer penalties. Don't be so reactive in frustrating moments. Simplify things.
Here's what some of the players said about the Bruins' current problems and potential solutions:
"Yeah, we've got to stop taking penalties. Sometimes it's bad luck with stick infractions. Most of the time it comes back to effort," McAvoy said. "Things are compounding right now and it's unfortunate. We've got to find a way to stop it."
"This is a bit of new territory for us to have this happening to us early in the year, after the last couple of years where we're usually gang busters," McAvoy added. "We're fine. We're not going to panic. It's game eight. We've got a lot of games left and we'll keep getting better."
"It's a high standard here, so definitely that's why you see that frustration, but it's up to us older guys, leaders, to kind of bring it back, focus on details and get on a winning streak," Pastrnak said.
