BOSTON — Not much has gone right offensively for the Bruins through four games of the 2014-15 season.
The team has scored just four goals and only six players have tallied a point — Adam McQuaid is the only defenseman on the scoresheet.
“Well, there’s no doubt we need better finish. But we just played a team on the other side that’s got a ton of it and they’ve scored two goals in three games.” B’s head coach Claude Julien said postgame.
“So, it’s not necessarily unique, but at the same time I think it’s early in the season and we’ve got to find, I guess, our game. Right now I think a lot of guys are forcing things and that could be because of the situation that we’re in. So we’ve got to stop forcing things and make them happen. I thought we had better net front presence this afternoon. I thought our guys did a better job of that. But the finish — whether it’s around the net or on our opportunities — it has to get better.”
One positive from the Bruins’ early struggles has been the duo of Loui Eriksson and Carl Soderberg. Along with veteran Chris Kelly, these three forwards have dominated puck possession and combined for two goals and three assists.
Soderberg has been Boston’s best and most consistent forward thus far. His aggressive forecheck is putting pressure on opposing defensemen and forcing turnovers, his strength and puck-handling skill are helping the B’s create lengthy periods of attacking zone pressure and his playmaking ability has earned him a team-leading three points (all assists).
In fact, the only goal that Soderberg has not picked up an assist on was Patrice Bergeron’s unassisted tally Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings.
He helped create Boston’s only goal Monday afternoon, which was scored on the power play by Eriksson. Soderberg gathered the puck after Avalanche goalie Reto Berra made a save, then dished a nice backhand pass to Eriksson, who calmly evaded Berra’s left pad. Eriksson receives a lot of criticism from fans, most of it unfair, but he’s been very good in the early part of the campaign.
From a puck-possession perspective, the Kelly-Soderberg-Eriksson line was fantastic. They started a bunch of shifts in their own zone and still found a way to transition up ice and out-shoot the opposition.
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Here’s the Corsi chart for the Kelly-Soderberg-Eriksson trio Monday afternoon. This line had a combined shot differential of plus-19 at even strength.
| Oct. 13 (vs. COL) | 5-on-5 | |
| Player | Corsi For | Corsi Against |
| Loui Eriksson | 12 | 5 |
| Chris Kelly | 11 | 5 |
| Carl Soderberg | 12 | 6 |
The Bruins had a more complete lineup Monday with the return of first-line center David Krejci, who said after the game he felt “good” in his season debut after missing the first three games with an undisclosed injury.
Still, the Bruins need more scoring production from veteran players such as Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand and Daniel Paille — all are scoreless through four games. The B’s also haven’t received any offense from the young players trying to earn a permanent spot in the lineup. Ryan Spooner, Jordan Caron and Seth Griffith were scoreless Monday with three total shots. Matt Fraser was scratched for the Avs matchup after failing to score in the first three games.
Luckily for the Bruins, the Kelly-Soderberg-Eriksson line is giving Julien a trio he can trust in all three zones, and also on the power play. Without the strong two-way performances of these players, Boston might be 0-4-0 with its next three games on the road.
