Why the Boston Bruins are heading home earlier than expected

The Boston Bruins are leaving the Stanley Cup Playoffs much earlier than they wanted.

For many NHL teams, making the playoffs and going on a deep run would be considered a success. However, for a team like the Boston Bruins, who finished the season with 100 points and the President’s Trophy, losing in the second round does not sit well.

Ever since the Bruins came to the bubble, something has been off. And in Game 5, in double overtime, in a do or die situation, they could not get the job done, as Victor Hedman and the Tampa Bay Lightning sent the reigning Eastern Conference champions home.

When the play came to a halt back in March, the Bruins were firing on all cylinders, posting a 7-3 record in their last 10 games. Backed by netminders Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, the Bruins allowed the least goals in the entire NHL as these netminders picked up a well-deserved Jennings Trophy.

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The team from Boston was scoring 3.24 goals per game, only allowing 2.39. Their power play was second behind the Edmonton Oilers for the league lead, converting on 25.2% of opportunities with the extra man. On the other end of special teams, they were killing off opponent penalties 84.3% of the time (third in NHL).

Their elite winger David Pastrnak finished the shortened season tied for the league lead in goals (48) with Alex Ovechkin. But after the hockey hiatus, this team did not play like the team we saw dominate the regular season.

For teams like the New York Islanders, there were plenty of corrections needed in order to have success. When training camp 2.0 began, there was a list of tweaks needed to give their team a shot at making a run.

But for a Bruins team who looked down on everyone else, what was there to work on? They had done their job through 70 games, and besides a few minor details, they liked their gameplan and their process. Practicing against your own team can only help so much for the big stage, especially when there was not much that had to be corrected.

Round robin play came and went, with the Bruins going winless, being outscored 9-4, earning the fourth seed and a matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes. A team that had impressively swept the New York Rangers in the Qualifying Rounds due to timely goals and outstanding goaltending by Petr Mrazek and James Reimer.

After splitting the first two games of the series, the Bruins looked to take a 2-1 series lead. When the team woke up on August 15th, they were hit with the terrible news that Vezina finalist Rask (26-8-6, 2.12 GAA, .929 SV%) would be opting out of the remainder of the playoffs. We would come to learn that this decision was due to a medical emergency with his daughter, a more than okay reason to leave. But regardless, he was gone, and his team would need to find a way to persevere.

And persevere they did for the remainder of the series, knocking off Carolina in five games. While Halak struggled at times, posting a Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA) of -3.32 in the playoffs, his team was able to bail him out more often than not.

But their next opponent, the Lightning, would be the hardest matchup of them all, as this team was coming off a grueling series victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets, which showcased a quintuple overtime game (Game One), ultimately winning the series after taking Game 5 in overtime (one period).

After winning Game One of the second round against this Lightning team, the Bruins would drop the next four games, being sent home in dramatic fashion, an overtime loss, as their time in the bubble came to a close. In this series, the Bruins were outscored 18-10.

What changed from the regular season to the playoffs? Why were they not as dominant?

The Bruins, as they depart, leave allowing the third-most goals in the playoffs (39), equaling out to 3.00 per game, only scoring 2.23 goals per game, which is a major problem.

Their power play and penalty kill remained strong, at 22.2% and 82.9% respectively.

While it is so easy to blame their series defeat on the absence of Rask, this is a game of adjustments and when something negative happens, there need to be guys that step up. As mentioned above, Halak did struggle allowing some softies, but also came up with big saves as well.

The Bruins actually saw their Corsi For % increase in the playoffs (fewer games) but still finishing with a 52.14%. So they were still controlling games in the shot department.

The difference was their execution. They were only coming through 47.37% of the time when given scoring chances, a major drop down from the regular season. Scoring chances they saw a lot of in games, owning 52.55% of them.

The halt in play really hurt this team. Red hot teams want to play night in and night out. When they are forced to take months off, it is not a shock that they may struggle out of the gate, until they find their game. Regardless of where they were seeded post the round-robin games, this was still the best team in hockey. And that leaves high aspirations.

Another major issue with this team, that was masked by their regular-season record, was that they were very top-heavy offensively. Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, their top line, scored 47.14% of the team’s goals during the regular season.

Looking at other teams for reference, the Vegas Golden Knights saw their top-line score 33.48% of their goals, and the New York Islanders saw their top-line score 29.10% of their regular-season total.

In the playoffs, we saw more of the same.

The Bruins top-line scored 41.4% of their goals, scoring 12 of the team’s 29. Vegas watched their top-line record 14 of the team’s 45 goals, which is 31.11%. And the Islanders saw their top-line score 12 of the team’s 43 goals, which equates to 27.90%.

While the Bruins have high-octane players on their top-line, when compared to other teams in the league and in this year’s playoffs, you need to see more output from other lines.

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A chaotic 2020 season comes to a close for the Bruins and while they did not make it as far as they hoped, it was still an incredible season. If there was no halt in play, who knows how their regular season momentum would have translated to the playoffs. And that is something we can ponder, but will truly never know.

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