The Boston Bruins have one of the NHL’s most explosive scoring units. They showed off their scoring prowess again on Thursday night.
Boston blew out the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2. But the bigger story was their scoring outburst. The Bruins had five different players score against Pittsburgh — Pavel Zacha (two goals), Mark Kastelic, Elias Lindholm, Morgan Geekie, and Fraser Minten.
Jack Studley of Boston Hockey Now wrote, “It is the seventh time this season that five or more Bruins scored in a win.”
That’s telling. Not only is Boston clicking offensively, but several players are pitching into the Bruins’ scoring effort.
How effective has Boston been? Studley added, “They now have 12 players who have scored three or more goals on the season, with Kastelic joining that group on Thursday.”
Of those 12, 10 have played in all 17 of Boston’s games this season. Do the math, and each of those 12 players is on pace to score about 15 goals in 84 games. The two players who haven’t appeared in 17 games, Zacha and Matthew Poitras, have five and four goals, respectively.
That is big-time production, and it is why the Bruins rank fourth in the NHL with 63 goals. Boston also has 40 goals against (third in the NHL), making them a top-five team both with and without the puck.
Bruins Will Be Tough For Opponents To Stop All Season
After 17 games, early-season trends have a better chance to become more permanent. They are no longer noise, and those once-outrageous stat lines grow more realistic.
For Boston’s opponents, it raises a burning question: How are we going to stop a team with so many scoring threats?
Here is another harsh reality for Boston’s opponents: Mason Lohrei is the only defenseman listed. That means Boston’s scoring depth at forward is arguably the league’s deepest at roughly the season’s 20 percent mark.
Common sense would tell teams to key on David Pastrnak (eight goals). But when someone like Casey Mittelstadt (five goals) can sneak in and score, Boston will cause a lot of problems offensively for opponents.
It also implies that if the top scorers have a bad night, then the depth scorers will pick up the slack. The Bruins only need to keep forcing opponents into playing their game.
Boston Could Have The NHL’s Most Well-Balanced Team
Here is another layer for the Bruins: They have proven to have more than just good goaltending defensively. This means that the Bruins play a solid defensive game, evidenced by their 48.7 Corsi For Percentage at 5-on-5. They stop opponents, then they utilize their depth scoring and put up an average of 3.7 goals per game.
That is one complete and well-balanced team early this season. That said, there is still time for opponents to figure out the Bruins. But right now, there is hardly a weak spot on this team.
With a team so effective at scoring goals and creating chances, one would think they spend 55-60 percent of their time shooting the puck. But as mentioned, it is under 50 percent at 5-on-5.
So far, the Bruins have found a winning formula, and one that will be tough for anyone to get the best of unless they catch Boston on an occasional bad night.
Bruins’ Scoring Depth Reveals Remarkable Early-Season Stat