The Florida Panthers of 2022–23 had a slow start, but after the All-Star Game, they went on a wild rampage that helped them secure a No. 8 playoff seed and advance all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. They were a stronger team than the first half of the previous campaign indicated.
The Boston Bruins of 2022–23 had a historically strong start to their regular season and continued to be so until they lost to those Panthers in a shocking Round 1 collapse that lacked heart and a strong ability to handle adversity.
They were lacking the postseason magic that most people thought would last at least through the first round.
Although they are currently demonstrating that you cannot completely discount a historic regular season, the Bruins were at least marginally worse than their seemingly carefree and straightforward regular season indicated.
Looking back, we gave the Panthers a lot more credit for the game than we actually did; Matthew Tkachuk had been winning all along.
With the Bruins at No. 1 in the Atlantic Division at 13-1-3 and somehow just as good as last regular season, and the Panthers at No. 2 in the Atlantic Division with a consistent 12-5-1 record, they are both continuing where they left off this season.
After the seven-game collapse and the departures of Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Taylor Hall, Tyler Bertuzzi, and other key players, many predicted the Bruins would regress significantly this season. However, they have unquestionably maintained their elite status. Here are five reasons the Boston Bruins are still atop the standings as they take on Florida on Wednesday night on TNT.
The Best Goalie Duo Persisted
Many demanded that the Bruins trade Linus Ullmark, the winner of the 2018 Vezina Trophy, and his $4 million average annual value in order to alleviate some of their cap problems while they looked for two elite centers with almost no money in the offseason. It was the right move for the team to stick with the league’s top goalie tandem even after Jeremy Swayman made his breakthrough.
On and off the rink, the Bruins goalies are close, and their mutual success feeds back into one another. With an average of 2.18 goals per game, they have collectively allowed the Bruins the fewest goals against in the league. With a combined save percentage of.931, they rank among the best in the league as well.
With a 7-0-2 record, 2.09 goals against average (No. 5 in the league), and a.933 save percentage (No. 3 in the league, having played at least three more games than Nos. 1 and 2), Swayman has stolen the show thus far this season. Swayman is No. 5 in the league, according to MoneyPuck, having saved 7.6 goals more than anticipated.
However, Ullmark is assembling a season for himself, even if Swayman has had a great start. His record is 6-1-1, his save percentage is.928 and his goals-against average is 2.23. With 4.4 goals saved above expectations, he is ranked 12th.
What does all of this teach us? that the impact of having two excellent goalies can be equal to that of having two excellent centers, so don’t try to fix what isn’t broken.
Pastrnak David Is David Pastrnak
I hate to tell everyone else in the NHL that David Pastrnak is still David Pastrnak—the pasta is actually still perfectly al dente.
In the first year of his eight-year, $90 million contract, the 27-year-old winger is firmly establishing himself as a star. With 12 goals (just three on the power play) and 29 points with a plus-11 rating through 17 games, he leads the Bruins in scoring. He spends 19:08 minutes on average on the ice with Brad Marchand, Pavel Zacha, and the first line.
With 29 points, he is tied for second place in the league with J.T. Miller, and his plus/minus is tied for eighth.
The Bruins’ success can be explained by a number of straightforward principles, though we could try to complicate them. Your best players must remain your best players, your big contracts must be worth the money, and your supporting cast must be at least passable. Pastrnak has dominated the first two games of this season for the Bruins.
Matthew Poitras’s Ascent to Power
With Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, two franchise icons, having both retired and taken their meager cap hits with them this offseason, all eyes were on 19-year-old Matthew Poitras to save the Bruins. I’m kidding, but don’t believe any Bruins supporters who claim to have predicted the rookie’s rise during the offseason.
After an excellent training camp, Poitras was asked to play a few games with the team while management considered whether to return him to junior. In the end, he was selected to play third-line center for the NHL team, where he filled in well to cover the voids left by Bergeron and Krejci when the starting lineup had to be adjusted.
Through his first 17 NHL games, Poitras has four goals, eight points, a plus-three rating, and just four penalty minutes. While he has somewhat cooled off, he still has eight points, good for fifth place in rookie scoring, and he is doing it in a lot less time on the ice than most players above him (averaging 14:38 TOI versus 19:35 for Connor Bedard, for example).
In between a struggling Jake DeBrusk and PTO graduate Danton Heinen on the third line, Poitras is clearly cheap on his entry-level contract and contributing to the score. With about a dollar and two top-center holes to fill, he’s been exactly what the Bruins hoped they’d miraculously find on the market last offseason.
Was the quality of the other centers really that poor?
Though it’s possible that Pavel Zacha hasn’t always performed up to the high draft pick the Devils selected him at (No. 6 in 2015), this doesn’t mean he’s a bad player—our minds can be deceiving sometimes when they associate these two things.
Last season, when Bergeron was sidelined due to an injury, Zacha filled in admirably, and he’s performing admirably now that he’s back playing center field for the Boston Bruins. In 17 games, he has seven goals, fourteen points, and a plus-seven rating. He and Pastrnak and Marchand average 19:18 TOI per game. When he’s on the ice, the Bruins are outscoring opponents 14-5 at even strength. He’s also a respectable 50% at the faceoff dot.
Charlie Coyle is the next player to come into focus, reminding us that he has historically performed at a top-six level in his career. With six goals (including a hat trick) and 15 points in 17 games, he ranks third on the team in scoring. For a team that needed to make value trades and rely on its own depth, Coyle and James van Riemsdyk have been able to bring out the best in each other, which has clearly been important (Trent Frederic is currently to Coyle’s right on the second line).
Perhaps these two were the best picks among the Bruins’ starting six all along.
Value Acquisitions Are Benefiting Don Sweeney
What if I told you that in 17 games during 2023–24, James van Riemsdyk, a Boston Bruin, has five goals, thirteen points, and a plus–four rating? What if I told you that, despite being 34 years old and on a one-year, $1 million contract with the Bruins, the man is thriving on the second line and on the first power-play unit? With Coyle by his side, he has had an incredible comeback.
Danton Heinen, who signed a one-year, $775,000 contract with the team after joining it on a PTO earlier this season, was also reunited with the Bruins. He has fit in nicely on the third line.
They have serviceable center Morgan Geekie (a $2 million cap hit) and veteran defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (a $1.05 million cap hit).
Additionally, the coaching staff is making good use of each of these depth players.
Although Heinen’s streaky game is underappreciated and you know he can hold his own and play a significant amount of minutes, you don’t want to depend on him to score a million goals. Shattenkirk offers an intriguing veteran presence if you pick your battles, but you don’t want to use him too much or every game. Van Riemsdyk still has it; you put him in a position where he can succeed and score.
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