WILMINGTON, Mass. — With the team riding a three-game winning streak, there haven't been many things to criticize about the start to this Bruins season.
But one area of concern has emerged in the early going, as the Bruins have struggled mightily on the power play in their first four games.
"It's probably the only thing right now that we really feel that we have to get better at," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "You put your best players, or most of your best players, on the ice and you expect them to do a little better than we've done. So we've just got to keep working on that."
The Bruins have managed just one power-play goal in 15 chances, a success rate of 6.7 percent that ranks them 27th in the NHL. Not surprisingly, Julien had the club working extensively on the power play during Wednesday's practice at Ristuccia Arena.
"I think shooting a little bit more is one thing [we can do], especially from the back end," said Julien. "We've still got to outwork the other team's PK, and I don't see that happening all the time. Moving the puck a little quicker and more confidently will certainly help, but the only way you can get better at it when you don't get results is to get back at it and work at in practice."
The message seems to be getting through, as Bruins forward Milan Lucic highlighted the same focus after the workout.
"I think we've got to do a better job of establishing the shot," said Lucic. "It doesn't necessarily have to be the perfect shot every time, it's just got to be a shot that gets through or maybe creates a rebound or even a shot like [Matt] Hunwick's yesterday that had a good screen and just finds a lane to the net. We have to do whatever we can to gain some momentum off a good, strong power plays and that was our focus today [in practice]."
The sample size remains small with just four games played so far, and the Bruins aren't panicking about the slow start on the man-advantage.
"We're getting a lot of opportunities and it gives you a great chance to win the game, so obviously we need to get better," said forward Nathan Horton. "It's still early. We just need to get pucks to the net, keep it simple and a lot of things are created off that. We still have a lot of time and we've got so many good players. Our power play is going to be fine."
Horton has the Bruins' lone power-play goal, scoring in the season opener in Prague. That was also the only game Boston lost, as they're 3-0-0 since despite going a combined 0-for-11 on the power play in that stretch. But the Bruins know they won't keep racking up the wins without some production from the power play.
"Sometimes games are won on the special teams, so obviously that's an area where we need to get better," said Lucic. "We need to capitalize on our chances when we get them."
The mystery of Boston's power-play struggles stems from the fact that the team is having no problem generating offense at even strength, but having the extra man on the ice seems to stunt their attack rather than enhance it.
"We probably shouldn't change a thing going into a power play [from even strength]," said Lucic. "We just have to be patient. We can't get frustrated. And we have to do whatever we can to get pucks on net and get traffic in front."
