Any concerns stemming from the Bruins’ lackluster win over the Chicago Blackhawks were largely put to rest Monday. After arguably their worst outing of the season despite earning two points, Boston bounced back with a disciplined, near wire-to-wire effort against the Vegas Golden Knights.
From the opening faceoff, the Bruins committed to their structure and executed the style of game they want to play. Were there breakdowns? Absolutely. But unlike previous outings, those lapses were brief and never snowballed into extended stretches of defensive-zone scrambling that left Jeremy Swayman carrying the load. Swayman was still called upon to make several timely stops, but this was not a game in which he needed to steal two points for his team.
The Casey Mittelstadt, Elias Lindholm and James Hagens line once again showed that you should leave that line alone for the immediate future. The Tanner Jeannot, Matt Poitras and Mark Kastelic looked better with Poitras back in the lineup – until he was knocked out of the game after taking a nasty elbow in the nose from Braeden Bowman. Poitras and Bowman were linemates with the Guelph Storm in the OHL for a couple of seasons.
While it is reasonable to allow new combinations time to build chemistry, the David Pastrnak–JJ Peterka partnership has yet to deliver consistent results. Nevertheless, Marco Sturm continues to give the duo extended opportunities, despite limited evidence that the combination is generating the desired impact.
Despite Morgan Geekie finding the back of the net in back-to-back games, the line has yet to generate consistent five-on-five offense. Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten remain pointless through four games, and Geekie’s recent goals have come under unique circumstances: one with the extra attacker in the closing seconds against Chicago and the other on the power play against Vegas. As a unit, the trio is still looking for sustained offensive chemistry.
The evidence continues to point toward Peterka being a better fit alongside Khusnutdinov and Minten. There is now enough of a track record to support that conclusion. Peterka serves as a true line driver, creating opportunities through his pace and puck possession, while that element has largely been absent from the line in its current configuration with Geekie.
Keeping Peterka alongside Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha appears to be creating more problems than solutions. Both Peterka and Pastrnak are natural play drivers who thrive with the puck on their sticks, but too often the pair seems focused on finding one another rather than making the simple play. The result has been an increase in forced passes, unnecessary turnovers and missed shooting opportunities.
The lack of production reflects those struggles. Peterka is currently riding a five-game goal drought and has recorded just two assists during that span, both of which came against Chicago.
What has worked in the past is the combination of Geekie, Zacha and Pastrnak. A common criticism among fans is that Pastrnak sometimes defers too much to Geekie, potentially impacting his own goal totals. But if the objective is generating offense, the distinction may not be that significant. Whether Pastrnak finishes the season with 50 goals and 50 assists or 30 goals and 70 assists, the end result is the same: 100 goals and a productive top line.
The focus should not be on maximizing the production of any one player, but rather on finding combinations that make each line more effective and productive as a whole. Right now, the current configuration is not accomplishing that, particularly among the Bruins’ “top two forward units”.
There are also lingering questions on the back end. Nikita Zadorov has not looked like the same player since serving as a healthy scratch, and his game has yet to regain the consistency that was there earlier. At the same time, the continued absence of Frederic Brunet from the lineup is becoming increasingly difficult to explain, while Jonathan Aspirot having a regular spot in the defense corps remains open to debate.
On the positive side, Will Borgen and Mason Lohrei have been positive performers. Both have provided stability on the blue line and have consistently been on the right side of the ledger in terms of their overall impact.
The combination of McAvoy with Hampus Lindholm has for the most part given us what we need from a top pair and I would not split that pair up just yet.
The Bruins’ special teams continue to be a drag on overall performance. With both the power play and penalty kill operating in the bottom half of the NHL, improvements in either area could have a meaningful impact on the club’s results. From my perspective, however, the shortcomings are less about scheme or personnel and more about execution. The systems themselves are capable of producing results, but the consistency required to make them effective has been lacking.
On the bright side, the Bruins’ schedule provides a valuable opportunity to address those shortcomings. With just three games over the next 10 days, Sturm and his coaching staff will have plenty of practice time at their disposal, making this an ideal stretch to work through some of the issues that have surfaced early in the season.
Special teams, in particular, should be a major point of emphasis. The coaching staff will have the time to devote meaningful practice reps to both the power play and penalty kill, and if progress remains limited, it may be time to consider personnel changes. Sometimes a new look is all it takes to spark a unit that has grown stagnant.
The light schedule creates another challenge for the Bruins: managing playing time between Swayman and backup Michael DiPietro. Given the ample rest between games, there will be a temptation to lean heavily on Swayman, and as the team’s No. 1 goaltender, that approach would be understandable.
However, doing so could leave DiPietro idle for nearly two weeks between appearances by the time this stretch concludes. For a backup goaltender, that is a significant layoff and far from ideal. Staying sharp requires game action, and finding DiPietro at least one start during this stretch may ultimately be as much about maintaining his readiness as it is about managing Swayman’s workload.
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