Add in a rare return to Boston for Joe Thornton and the club's announcement that Marc Savard would be shut down for the season after suffering another concussion last month, and there was certainly no shortage of storylines this week. Still, with all those major happenings going on, there's bound to be a few items that might have escaped your attention. Fortunately, that's why the Bruins Shootout is here with a half-dozen items from the past week that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks.
1. The Bruins can breathe a sigh of relief that they don't have to face any of the league's California-based franchises again this season. Boston was 0-3-1 against Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose, with the Bruins getting outscored 11-3 in those games and each of those teams shutting out the Bruins once. Boston hasn't fared well against the West in general this year, with just a 3-5-2 record when venturing out of their conference. Only four other Eastern teams have a losing record against the West this year, and of them, only New Jersey (5-9-1 vs. West) is averaging fewer points per game against the West than Boston. The Bruins have seven games remaining against the West, including a home-and-home series with Detroit later this week. How they fare in those games against the West could go a long way toward determining where they end up seeded in the East.
2. While the Bruins have been winning of late, at least against teams from outside of California, one area of concern remains their struggles on the power play. For the season, Boston is just 21st in the league at 16.8 percent (31-for-184), and those numbers have been dropping fast. On Saturday, the Bruins were 0-for-4 with the man advantage, managing just one shot on goal in eight minutes of power-play time. They're 0-for-12 in their last five games, 1-for-19 over the last seven. Savard has made the power play go in recent years, but even though this latest slump coincides with his absence since suffering another concussion, Savard wasn't making much of a difference this year. He had no goals and just four assists on the power play in 25 games this year, despite averaging more power-play ice time than any other forward at 2:58 a game. Savard won't be back to solve this year's power-play woes, so the Bruins will need to get more production out of forwards like Nathan Horton (2:45 power-play ice time, 3-1-4 on power play), David Krejci (2:49, 0-6-6) and Tyler Seguin (1:32, 1-2-3).
3. With Savard shut down for the season, the Bruins have begun auditioning players to help fill the void. Zach Hamill made his season debut on Saturday and Jordan Caron was recalled on Monday. Hamill's addition pushed Seguin down to the fourth line with Shawn Thornton and Greg Campbell. Caron's return could push Seguin out of the lineup all together, at least on a temporary basis. Caron's size and strength would better complement Thornton and Campbell on an energy line, and he showed an ability to contribute early in the season with 3-4-7 totals in 20 games before being sent to Providence. Seguin scored an important goal on Thursday, but that's his only point in 11 games, and he's seen his ice time decrease significantly of late as some costly turnovers have made it tough for Claude Julien to trust him late in close games.
4. Adam McQuaid has been a busy man of late. Not only has he remained in the lineup despite Mark Stuart's return from a broken hand, but McQuaid has making his presence known as he's developing into one of the league's top young fighters. McQuaid had fights in each of the last two games and five fights in his last 15 games. Overall, he's now one of just 17 players in the NHL in double digits with 10 fighting majors in 39 games. Only Dallas' Krys Barch (12 fights in 32 games) has as many fights in fewer games than McQuaid, who was surprised when informed he had reached double figures after fighting San Jose's Ben Eager on Saturday. Unlike most tough guys, McQuaid has actually fought more at each level as he's progressed in his career. He had just 13 fights in 246 games in four seasons of junior hockey in the OHL, 26 fights in 178 games over three seasons in the AHL and now has 13 fights in just 58 games in two years in the NHL.
5. In addition to his fights, McQuaid also nearly scored his first goal of the season on Thursday. It wasn't a simple slapper from the point either, as McQuaid deked around a defender, skated to the top of the right circle and put a perfect shot past Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen. "That was a highlight goal," Julien raved. "He pulled it in and that's something we're not used to seeing Adam do. It was really a great shot right under the crossbar."
Unfortunately, while the play may make McQuaid's personal highlight reel, it won't be found on the scoresheet. The goal was waved off as Blake Wheeler was called for goalie interference on the play. McQuaid was disappointed to lose the goal, but didn't fault Wheeler. "If he wasn't there, [Lehtonen] probably stops it," McQuaid said. "It's an unfortunate call, but we'll move on. It's disappointing. I'm not going to dwell on it, but if I could I would like to have it back, that's for sure. It doesn't happen very often so it would have been nice if it had counted."
6. Krejci has now gone 19 games without a goal, last scoring against Florida back on Dec. 27. After Saturday's loss to San Jose, Krejci explained that part of the problem is the stick he's using. He was quick to stress that he wasn't trying to make excuses for his game, but the Bauer model he prefers is not currently available as the factory that makes it has temporarily shut down production. That has left Krejci a bit miffed at the company, and Bauer probably won't be too happy with him either based on his comments to reporters after Saturday's game. "I have a new stick now, and I don't like that stick," Krejci said. "You guys can put it on TV or in the papers, I don’t care. This stick sucks. I said a long time ago to my guy, I have a contract with Bauer and I'm not happy with the situation. I'm not making excuses for my game. I just don't like that stick, that's all it is.”
