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What’s changed for Bruins since coaching change? ‘Passion’ and ‘pride’
“I think we're playing for each other. I thought we were disconnected before."
The Boston Bruins still have a ways to go when it comes to righting the ship amid an extended early-season malaise.
But even with Boston’s sustained scoring woes and inconsistent play, the Bruins seem to be trending in the right direction under interim head coach Joe Sacco.
Following Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime win over the Red Wings, the Bruins have now won five of their first seven games under Sacco.
Boston has been hard-pressed for consistent scoring over that stretch — scoring two goals or fewer in four of those seven matchups. But the team’s defense has regained its rigidity since Sacco replaced Jim Montgomery on Nov. 19.
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The Bruins have relinquished just 13 total goals over their last seven games. A 25th-ranked penalty kill at the time of Montgomery’s ousting has also now negated 17 of its last 18 power plays.
But Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov isn’t chalking up Boston’s stronger play of late to any drastic changes in the team’s strategy under Sacco.
“I think we’re playing with passion. I think we’re playing with pride,” Zadorov said. “I think we’re playing for each other. I thought we were disconnected before. That’s what wasn’t working. I don’t think we fixed much X’s and O’s. I think it’s the same system, same gameplans. We’re just doing that this time.”
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Pavel Zacha — who secured two points for Boston on Tuesday with his overtime winner — did stress that Boston’s simplified approach under Sacco has yielded positive returns over the last two weeks.
“I think a little bit about more shot volume, I think a little bit more structured in the defensive zone,” Zacha said of Boston’s response since the coaching change. “I think that was the emphasis — being really good defensively, and then go from there. And I think that’s kind of worked for us.”
While Montgomery’s emphasis on “quality over quantity” with shot selection drew more 5-on-5 offense out of Boston in his first two years, that same message rang hollow on a 2024-25 team seemingly short on skill and scoring touch.
With the Bruins making a concerted effort toward peppering the net as of late, Boston is at least opening the door for more of the tips, rebounds, and greasy goals that will need to become this team’s primary source of offense — especially with David Pastrnak shooting blanks.
Even if Boston’s power play starts showing some signs of life (12.4 percent, 31st in the NHL), the writing is on the wall that the Bruins don’t have the personnel to regularly trade chances or outscore teams, night in and night out.
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But a stingier defensive effort and taking on the identity of a grinding, physical team should allow Boston to hang in most of these matchups — a welcome departure from some of the lopsided losses that Boston was dealt earlier this fall.
The Bruins only generated two high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5 play on Tuesday night — not nearly good enough. But the Bruins also limited Detroit to just five high-danger looks down the other end of the ice.
With Boston regularly dishing out welts against the Red Wings (40-14 edge in hits) and clearing skaters out of Grade-A ice, Joonas Korpisalo (6-2-1, .909 save percentage) could breathe a bit easier as the game progressed.
“It’s not only me. I don’t want to bring myself in that,” Zadorov, who landed four hits, said of Boston’s buy-in as of late. “I think all the guys fight on the ice, I think we’re helping each other. There’s a breakdown. That’s why we have a system.
“We rely on it. There are layers. There are all the guys helping. If one guy makes mistakes, all the guys are going to clean up for them. So I think that’s the main change from the start of the year.”
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The 2024-25 Bruins still have their fair share of question marks.
Boston has benefited from a lighter schedule since Sacco has taken over. It hasn’t stopped the Bruins from still face planting against tomato-can matchups like the Penguins on Black Friday.
And even if the Bruins grind teams down to the type of low-event hockey that suits their roster, it won’t mean all that much if they still aren’t putting the puck in the net.
But considering where the Bruins were just a few weeks ago, things seem to be trending upwards.
After nine weeks of hockey, the Bruins seem to have finally found an identity.
It’s not always pretty. But it’s a start.
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