That should be especially true in Tuesday's battle between the Bruins and Lightning in Tampa.
Boston is one of the most disciplined teams in the NHL. While the Bruins rank just 20th in the league with an average of 13.9 penalty minutes per game, they rack up many of those minutes while taking an opponent to the box with them, as Boston is fifth in the league with 33 fighting majors.
When it comes to committing penalties that actually give the opponent a power play, the Bruins are quite stingy. They've only been shorthanded 108 times in 34 games, the second-lowest total in the league behind only Toronto's 107 in 34 games.
But while the Leafs are still just 28th in the league on the penalty kill, Boston ranks second with an 87 percent success rate, having allowed a league-low 14 power-play goals.
Those numbers are sure to be tested by Tampa Bay. The Lightning lead the league in both power-play goals with 37 and power-play chances with 155 in 36 games. Steven Stamkos is tops in the NHL with both 12 power-play goals and 23 points on the power play. Ryan Malone ranks fourth with eight goals on the man advantage, while Martin St. Louis is third in power-play points with 21.
By comparison, Mark Recchi leads the Bruins with just 10 power-play points, a total matched or exceeded by 69 players across the league, including six on the Tampa Bay roster.
The Lightning are especially dangerous with the extra man at home, having converted 18-of-61 power plays on home ice, a league-best 29.5 percent success rate.
The Bruins are one of the few teams that have had success against the Lightning's potent power play this year. Even in their 3-1 loss at Tampa on Nov. 22, the Lightning were 0-for-3 with the man advantage. Tampa also failed to convert its only power play in Boston's 8-1 win at the Garden on Dec. 2.
Tampa has allowed the most shorthanded goals in the league with seven, while Boston is tied for fifth with five shorthanded goals scored, so the Bruins can look for opportunities to counterattack as well as focusing on shutting down the Lightning. Three of those shorthanded strikes did come from Brad Marchand, though. He's tied for the league lead in that category but has missed the last three games and is questionable for this matchup.
Even without Marchand, the Bruins still have plenty of dangerous penalty killers with David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Blake Wheeler and Daniel Paille all capable of creating chances while down a man.
Still, the best shot at extending their modest winning streak to three games will be for the Bruins to give the Lightning as few chances on the power play as possible. At even strength, the Bruins can match up with Tampa Bay as well as anyone, but getting into a special-teams battle could be a recipe for disaster, even with Boston's strong penalty kill.
