Considering the Bruins are playing without David Pastrnak, lost Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug in the offseason and are rolling the dice with unknowns such as Trent Frederic, Jakub Zboril and Jack Studnicka, the Bruins 4-1-1 start to the season is impressive.
And let’s not forget the fact the Bruins went without a five-on-five goal through their first 11 periods of the season.
After a 3-2 overtime victory over the Penguins in Boston on Tuesday, here are four takeaways from the Bruins first six games.
Nick Ritchie is finally working out:
After coming over from Anaheim at the trade deadline last year, Nick Ritchie failed to give the Bruins much, finishing with two points in seven games before a disappointing one point in eight bubble games.
Now with more time under his belt to gel with his teammates, and become more comfortable in his new surroundings, Ritchie has been one of the Bruins better forwards so far.
Tied with Patrice Bergeron for second on the team in points with six, and goals with three, Ritchie has been a pleasant surprise.
“Right now, we like where he is. And if he keeps going and let’s see how he does in those heavy, physical games. That was the other part of it. It’s still early in the year, but we’ll see how that plays out,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy.
“But that was our message to him. He came in and I think he’s done what we’ve asked. We’re trying to get him up to speed to move his feet on a consistent basis. But you got to be able to affect the forecheck and get your feet moving on breakouts and I think he’s trying to be that player that does that and not be just a stationary big body. It’s worked out for us so far and we’ll see where it leads from here.”
At 6’ 2” 230 lb, Ritchie is a big body that is at his best when he gets himself to the dirty areas and use his size to his advantage.
As you can see from his three goals—all on the power play—this season, he’s doing just that.
"Some of those physical strengths that I do have, I like to use to my advantage but also make plays, go to the net, and shoot the puck,” said Ritchie.
Bruins penalty kill getting the job done
One of the big questions the Bruins needed to answer was how the power play would run with Krug in St. Louis and how the penalty kill would work with Chara in Washington. Both have been exceptional and been a driving force behind the Bruins early season success.
Tuesday’s victory was a prime example of how special the Bruins special teams units are. They managed to hold the Penguins off the board on all six power play opportunities, while Brad Marchand kicked the scoring off with his first shorthanded goal of the season.
"You kill six penalties, you're down a body upfront, they've got a really good power play, and then you mix in one or two shifts where your stuck in your end and that's where the fatigue came. Overall, I thought we were fine. A lot of pockets in the game, we didn't spend a lot of time in our end, probably shows in the shots totals when you look at it in attempts,” said Cassidy.
The Bruins had as many shots (six) shorthanded as the Penguins did on the power play Tuesday night.
"When you kill that much, to keep it down to that many shots, we did a pretty good job battling, pretty good job blocking shots or willing to block shots," said Cassidy.
Last season Zdeno Chara led the Bruins in shorthanded time on ice per game, averaging 3:11 each night. Replacing Chara in that role has been Jeremy Lauzon averaging 4:42 per night.
The Bruins have the top ranked penalty kill, allowing just two goals on 26 power play chances, a 92.3% mark.
Kevan Miller has been a huge plus
“Doesn’t look like a guy who has missed a full season plus. His game has been great, he’s playing within himself. He’s had a couple of nice rushes when the ice has opened up in front of him, rung one off the bar tonight,” said Cassidy.
“Doing a good job with Zboril, getting him to play hard every night, practice well. Quietly going about his business. Going hard, sticking up for our guys. I’m very pleased with him.”
The elder defenseman on a young Bruins d-core, Miller hasn’t missed a beat, playing very reliable defense, pairing up with Zboril to give the Bruins a solid third pairing.
Of Bruins defensive pairings with at least 15 minutes of five-on-five ice time together, Zboril and Miller’s 55.56 corsi for percentage only trails Matt Grzelcyk and Brandon Carlo.
Craig Smith signing was a good one
The Bruins signed Craig Smith in the offseason, hoping Smith would provide some stability to their five-on-five scoring issues. While he’s not quite there yet with one five-on-five goal through five games, he’s been an all-around success for the Bruins so far, cashing in on the overtime winner Tuesday night.
The goal extended Smith’s point streak (2-2-4) to three.
"I want to come in and just try to do my job the best I could," said Smith. "Chip in and help with the puzzle. This team has some great leadership and has everybody pulling on the same rope. If I can just be a part of that, I'll be doing my job."
Like I mentioned above with Ritchie, Smith is another body that likes to find himself in the dirty area, making things happen around the net. Even in games where he hasn’t recorded any points, Smith is creating a handful of scoring chances for himself by playing the right way and finding himself in positions he needs to be in in order to be successful.
Smith was all over the ice on Tuesday, finishing with a game-high seven shots.
Once the Bruins are fully healthy and Cassidy can deploy his four lines the way he wants to, Smith and Charlie Coyle will provide the Bruins with the third line depth that they’ll need in a tough East Division.
Whether it ends up as Ritchie, Trent Frederic or Anders Bjork rounding out the Bruins third line, the play of Smith and Coyle together should help whoever joins the duo.
"We hoped for Coyle and Smitty to get some chemistry," said Cassidy. "Right now, I like what I see with Freddy there. It's just a mindset of we wanted to build a bigger line. Originally, we had Ritchie penciled in there. In training camp, I thought he was doing a good job with him, so Ritchie moves up because of some injuries. Now Freddy goes in there as the bigger body as opposed to Bjork and speed."
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