The Boston Bruins didn’t do anything well Wednesday night, but one particular area of weakness was the penalty kill.
The Toronto Maple Leafs scored three power-play goals in a lopsided 6-1 win over the Bruins, dropping Boston’s penalty killing percentage to 76.8 percent on the season (26th in the NHL).
Toronto broke the game open in the second period with four goals. Phil Kessel doubled his team’s lead 18 seconds into the frame, then Morgan Rielly put the Leafs up 3-0 with his second goal of the season on a rebound. From that point, Toronto’s power play took over the game and erased any hope of a Boston comeback.
The first power-play tally didn’t take long to create, and it was all about speed. Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf started the rush up ice with an accurate pass through the neutral zone to Cody Franson, who quickly fed the puck to Tyler Bozak for a clean entry into the attacking zone. Bozak and linemate James van Riemsdyk worked a nice give-and-go to find the back of the net and chase Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask from the game.
Toronto’s second power play goal actually was a double deflection. Jake Gardiner had a ton of space at the blue line and fired a shot towards goal that was deflected by Bozak and van Riemsdyk before bouncing past Bruins backup netminder Niklas Svedberg. The Bruins weren’t able to clog the shooting lane and failed to clear traffic from the front of the net.
The Leafs’ third power-play tally was the result of a lucky bounce at the blue line and hard work going to the net. Peter Holland skated right past Loui Eriksson and beat Svedberg with a backhand shot to give Toronto a 6-1 advantage.
Boston’s penalty kill struggled to begin the season with six goals against in the first six games. After going 1-for-3 in short-handed situations during a 6-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 16, the Bruins quickly improved and went 22-for-25 in their next 10 games. The B’s were 8-2-0 in that span, including a five-game win streak entering Wednesday night.
One of the reasons why the Bruins have been a successful team over the last six seasons is because their penalty kill has been consistently good and sometimes elite. The B’s have ranked in the top 10 in penalty kill percentage three times in the last five seasons, including two top-five finishes. Six of the last eight Stanley Cup champions had top-10 penalty kills.
Special teams often plays a huge role in the outcome of games at the NHL level. Toronto dominated this area Wednesday by going 3-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
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The Bruins must improve in both areas to avoid falling in the standings over the next few weeks as their schedule becomes much more difficult — eight of the next 10 games are against playoff teams from last season.
Photo via John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY Sports Images
