Bruins’ Power-Play Shakeup Product Of Unselfish Pursuit For Title
As the Bruins get set to host the Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Saturday night, one of the club’s focuses has been the power play.
Boston’s power play had been stagnant down the stretch tallying just three goals on its last 27 opportunities in its last 10 games.
Getting the man advantage to flourish again is a top priority, especially since Toronto’s penalty kill ranks 23rd among the 32 NHL teams at 76.9%.
Two changes Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery has made to Boston’s power play units were switching Kevin Shattenkirk for Charlie McAvoy as the anchor on the blue line and slotting Danton Heinen in Brad Marchand’s spot on the half wall in the first unit.
“I always think you leave your top unit together, but it was too much of a prolonged time where I think they were stale mentally,” Montgomery told reporters after practice at Warrior Ice Arena on Friday. “It didn’t matter who had the puck. There was no movement. There was no purpose to what were doing.
“We were fading away from the net instead of going and converging toward the net. And both units today were converging toward the net. I’m just happy with the pace of the power play.”
On any other team, moving two stars from the first power-play unit to the second could be a blow to their egos, but not in Boston.
“Great part about the Bruins is the leaders will do whatever is best for the Bruins,” Montgomery said. “They think having two units going one minute each is what’s going to give us the pace and the purpose to have success. They’re all in.”
Along with ramping up the power play, the Bruins will need to stay out of the box against the Leafs whose power play finished the regular season scoring 57 goals on 238 opportunities for 24.0%. Boston’s penalty kill was ranked 7th in the regular season allowing 47 goals in 268 shorthanded situations for 82.5%
In the four games this season, the Bruins converted 3-for-11 on the man advantage against the Leafs while holding Toronto to one power-play goal in 11 shorthanded situations. Continuing that trend in the first round would only bode well for the Black and Gold.
