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The Bruins’ defense is righting the ship — save for one critical area
"Could have been a lot worse, but should have been better.”
The Bruins’ overtime loss to the Oilers on Thursday represented the latest “glass half-full or half-empty” quandary for a team that has largely clung to small victories or silver linings amid an uneven start.
The “half-empty” argument? After rebounding from a dreadful start to a five-game trek out west with back-to-back wins over Vancouver and Calgary, Boston let a two-goal lead slip through its grasp against Edmonton en route to a disheartening loss.
To further twist the knife, a pair of two-point results for both the Lightning and Senators on Thursday tightened Boston’s playoff positioning.
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Tampa Bay (38 points and four games in hand) leapfrogged Boston (38 points) for the third spot in the Atlantic Division, while the Senators (36 points, two games in hand) sit behind the Bruins for the second and final wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.
The “half-full” spiel? The Bruns now return home to Boston with five points on this trip — a seemingly inconceivable result after those games in Winnipeg and Seattle — and largely kept Connor McDavid and arguably the most talented team in the Western Conference in check for most of the night.
And in matchups against human cheat codes like McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, sometimes you just need to shrug your shoulders.
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What makes Thursday’s result both so promising and disheartening rests in the continued buy-in toward the identity Joe Sacco is crafting — even if that progress is still being stalled by some persistent warts across the roster.
As discouraging as it was to see soft plays on the puck and ill-advised line changes spur Edmonton’s comeback, the Bruins’ defensive structure for most Thursday evening didn’t give the Oilers all that much.
That may not result in the most fluid or exciting product on the ice. But it’s the formula that Sacco and the Bruins must adhere to if they want to consistently submit competitive performances (as was the case on Thursday).
In total, the Bruins limited Edmonton to nine high-danger scoring chances on Thursday — standing as fifth-lowest total generated by a high-powered Oilers offense this season (per Natural Stat Trick).
Edmonton finished with an expected goals rate of 2.33 — their fourth-lowest output — while their 26 total shots on goal stood as a tie for the second-lowest shot volume generated this year.
For most of the night, the Bruins limited mistakes with the puck on their sticks, blocked shots (14 total), and snuffed out the odd-man rushes that usually give McDavid the runway he needs to carve up opposing netminders.
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“Yeah, it was solid, especially the first period,” Sacco said of Boston’s defensive structure. “Great start by our team. Came out checking. We were committed to checking, good habits and good details. Second period, it swung a little bit in their favor.
“I thought the third [period] actually, was fairly even until the end of the game there, they started to push hard. It’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t come away with that extra point tonight.
For all of the lopsided defeats that the Bruins have been dealt this season, Boston’s defense is starting to clamp down since Sacco has taken the reins. The Bruins currently rank second in the NHL in 5-on-5 high-danger scoring chances allowed per 60 minutes (8.79).
Since Sacco took over as interim head coach on Nov. 19, there have only been two instances over 14 games where the Bruins have allowed 10-plus 5v5 high-danger scoring chances.
The one area of that defensive turnaround that has still hindered Boston has been the play of Jeremy Swayman, who now sits at 11-10-3 with an .887 save percentage through 24 games this season.
Swayman — who entered Thursday last in the NHL among qualified goalies (min. five games played) with a -11.5 goals saved above expected rate (per MoneyPuck) — had another night to forget against Edmonton.
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Edmonton’s comeback was jumpstarted in the second period off a quick shot from Zach Hyman that surprised Swayman as it slipped just under his right skate and into the back of the net.
There was plenty that went wrong on McDavid’s equalizer with 2:21 left in regulation, be it a ugly change from David Pastrnak, a light play on the puck from Charlie Coyle, or Nikita Zadorov getting torched by McDavid.
Still, Swayman bemoaned the sequence that ended with McDavid slipping the puck through the five-hole to force overtime.
“I think it was too committed to the passing option, and opened myself up a little too much,” Swayman said. “He’s a hell of a player. So he made a play and saw an opening. It was unfortunate.”
There is still plenty of time for Swayman to regain his form this season. But his up-and-down play has loomed large over a team that is starting to right the ship in its own zone — albeit with one critical area still taking on water.
The ball is in the court of Bruins fans as to what the prevailing sentiment should be after an overtime road loss to a team like the Oilers.
But as the Bruins continue to let points slip away in a tightening Eastern-Conference field, some of those “half-full” musings are destined to spill over if the Bruins’ defensive efforts have little to show for in the standings.
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“We finished better than we started, for sure, but we can’t afford to be giving away points like that right now,” Brad Marchand said. “We need to be more prepared to start the road trip than we were. Should have been better than what it was. But at the end of the day, it’s good to get five. You know, come away. 500. Could have been a lot worse, but should have been better.”
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