The Boston Bruins are tied with the Washington Capitals for the best record in the Eastern Conference (12-6-1) since Joe Sacco took over as interim head coach on Nov. 19.
There’s still plenty the Bruins need to improve, and there have still been some real stinkers mixed in, but ultimately that record at least makes it clear that they have gotten themselves to a much better spot than where they were during the first 20 games of the season under Jim Montgomery.
Making his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show on Thursday, former Bruins player and coach Mike Milbury said the biggest change under Sacco is that Boston has finally found its identity. Listen to the full interview above.
“The identity that they're now starting to form under Sacco is fewer shots allowed,” Milbury said. “They had 10 wins in December, which is almost as much as they had in the previous two months together. And their checking game is better. If your checking game is better, your skating is better. And if your skating is better, you're probably moving the puck a little bit more efficiently, which I've seen.
“Under Montgomery, it was kind of run and gun and possess the puck and get quality chances. And now they've turned it into, we don't want to give up quality chances, and we'll take a quantity of shots and crash the net. Defense first seems to be the order of the day, and I think it needs to be the order of the day. I'm happy with Swayman coming around. He's played much better, I think much more solidly, than he did at the beginning of the year. Got through some early season hiccups. Korpisalo, for the most part, has been fine. They lean on the goaltenders. They'll get [Hampus] Lindholm back, and as much as I think he's more flawed than he should be, or worth his paycheck, he's still a pretty good player. That'll help. But, defense first, and get your chances.”
The Bruins currently sit in the first wild card spot as the seven-seed in the Eastern Conference, but they are also now just four points out of first place in a crowded race at the top of the Atlantic Division. Milbury believes they are now firmly a playoff team, but still doesn’t believe in their ability to make a deep postseason run.
“I don't know. I don't see them as a threat to win a Stanley Cup,” Milbury said. “There are too many other really good teams out there that I think would make it impossible for them. But, you know, if they continue to work on this type of game plan, and they do get all those things in order, yeah, they can win a round. Could they win two? Yeah, maybe. There's a lot of crappy teams in the Eastern Conference right now, for whatever reason. Pittsburgh can't figure it out. The Islanders can't figure it out. The Rangers can't figure it out. It's a bunch of teams at that end, but there's still New Jersey up top, still Florida up top. There's still some teams that can do something. Washington certainly has improved. Can they win a round? Yes. Can they win two? Probably not. But there's still a trading deadline to look at, and maybe they can pick something up along the way offensively that would help them out. But I don't see them getting to the conference final.”
As Milbury referenced, the biggest thing holding the Bruins back is their offense, both at 5-on-5 and on the power play. They’re tied for 28th in goals per game (2.62) and rank 30th on the power play (13.0%).
“A lot of pressure offensively goes on Marchand and Pastrnak,” Milbury said. “If you look at the guys beyond Marchand and Pastrnak, [Elias] Lindholm and Zacha – they don't cut the mustard in the top six for me. … They just don't have it, and you can see that. When you watch the Washington game, they had 13 quality chances, that was the count, and they only scored one goal. And that one goal was scored off a dump-in when it hit a stanchion and came out front on a weird bounce, and Brazeau just was able to tap it in. But 27 shots blocked, that tells a story when you get that many shots blocked. You give Washington credit for getting in the way, but Peter McNab, my old buddy, God rest his soul, used to say, ‘You have to see the holes. You don't see the goalies or the checker in front of you. You have to find the holes.’ And they don't seem to have the ability to do that.”
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