BOSTON — The Boston Bruins have been on fire to start to the new NHL season, and they deserve credit for that.
However, the team’s 5-1-0 record is masking perhaps its greatest weakness: woeful second periods.
The Bruins struggled in the second frame throughout last season, and the problem has continued this campaign. Sure, the Bruins earned a 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, but nestled in the middle of David Pastrnak’s four-goal performance was one of the worst periods of hockey you’ll ever see from Bruce Cassidy’s team.
The Bruins were out-shot 16-6, allowed a goal and committed three penalties, though one of them was pure fantasy. Numbers and penalties aside, Boston was sloppy, out of sync and generally lacked a sense of urgency. Had it not been for the efforts of goalie Jaroslav Halak, fans might have left TD Garden with a completely different taste in their mouths.
So, what gives? Some of it has to do with the natural flow of a hockey game — one team takes command, the other responds — but the problem nevertheless must be addressed and corrected.
“I think we’ve established some leads here early on, our first periods have been terrific,” Cassidy said after the game. “We’re starting on time, you’re gonna naturally have a push from the other team.
“We’ve gotta get a little more into work mode in those second periods. It’s early in the year — maybe are we thinking it’s gonna be an easy game? Are we not ready for the pushback, to a certain extent, because we’ve had the leads? It’s a bit of everything. It’s normal around the league — a team gets a first-period lead in other team’s gonna give you some problems in the second period.”
Cassidy added: “But we’ve gotta get it corrected. Tonight was an exceptionally poor second period. … Tonight was probably the worst of our leads where we sort of lost our urgency all over the ice.”
Listen, the Bruins are a very good hockey team. And, honestly, they made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final despite suffering from this very issue. They’re going to be fine.
But the second-period issues nevertheless need to be solved, particularly with the toughest stretch of the season just around the corner.
Here are some other notes from Monday’s Bruins-Ducks game:
— Pastrnak’s four-goal game was the first of his career and his fifth career hat trick. No Bruin ever has scored five goals in a game.
— Brad Marchand recorded two assists and now has logged a point in five straight games.
— The Bruins have held leads of two-or-more goals five times this season.
— The Ducks went 0-for-4 on the power play and now are 0-for-14 on the man-advantage this season.
— The Bruins currently have the best record in the Eastern Conference and the second-best record in the NHL, behind only the undefeated Edmonton Oilers.
