Bruins: Scoring depth concerns arising despite fast start

The Boston Bruins have jumped out to a running start this season following a loss in the Stanley Cup Finals. But are they as unstoppable as their record shows?

The Boston Bruins have started the season with an 11-1-2 record thus far. They rank fifth in goals scored and third in goals against. The Bruins have accumulated a 30.6% power play success rate over 49 opportunities, meaning they have scored 15 power play goals. Their penalty kill (PK) has also found success, killing off 86.05% of the 43 penalties they needed to kill off. They also have a team CorsiFor percentage of 52.05%, according to Natural Stat Trick.

At a more individualistic perspective, their leading scorers are David Pastrnak (29 points), Brad Marchand (28 points), and Patrice Bergeron (15 points). Their top defenseman in point production is Torey Krug (11 points). Combined, their top line and number one defenseman have 83 points.

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Those four players make up 61.5% of the team’s total production. For a team to rely on just four players that heavily is extremely unrealistic for an entire season. That being said, the Bruins need their secondary scoring lines to step up.

Pastrnak’s league-leading 14 goals and 29 points through the team’s first 14 games are incredible totals. However, eight of those goals and 12 of those points have come on the man advantage.

Unfortunately, point production cannot lean on the man advantage to continue an absurd pace for a full season. Pastrnak’s numbers are surely going to dip in a matter of time, which puts an exclamation point on the issues of their secondary scoring.

As for Marchand’s 28 points, just nine have come on the power play, meaning that his pace is far easier to keep up with. Another concern is Krug’s production. At five-on-five, Krug has just two goals this season. He has scored all nine of his assists on the PP. That is an impossible pace to keep.

The Bruins have relied extremely heavily upon the power play, as 28.8% of their team goals have come through it. Fans and coaches have to understand that paces like that do not stick around for very long. The Bruins need to emphasize their play at five-on-five before they should be considered the best team in the Eastern Conference.

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Finally, one stat that tells a story of whether or not a point production pace is maintainable is PDO. PDO is a team or players shooting percentage plus a goalies save percentage while that player is on the ice. The average PDO is 100, while anything below is, for lack of a better term, bad luck. Meanwhile, anything over is good luck.

Pastrnak has a ridiculous 105.4 PDO, suggesting that there is an unbelievable amount of puck luck working in his favor, pushing the narrative of him not keeping this pace of 2.07 points per game. Meanwhile, Marchand has an even more ridiculous PDO of 110.9. Bergeron checks in at a 109.8 PDO.

What all this means is that the Bruins top line has relied heavily on not just the power play, but also lucky bounces, making their dominance extremely difficult to maintain. They need their secondary scoring, and they need it now.

A recent report has come out about how the Bruins and Kings talked about a trade including Tyler Toffoli, who has been tossed around frequently in trade rumors earlier in the offseason. However, no trade was made, though the Kings have reportedly been keeping a close eye on the Bruins.

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So will the Bruins, now seeing how their first line cannot continue down the dominant path they have taken, make a deal happen? Will they pull the trigger on a deal that could bolster their depth and potentially spark the players not named Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnak? Only time will tell, and we here at Puck Prose will certainly update everyone as more information surfaces.

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