Look at the scoresheet, and it’s obvious that the Boston Bruins’ top six delivered a solid performance Tuesday.
But if you go a little deeper, it’s borderline laughable how good they were.
David Krejci, Brad Marchand and Taylor Hall each scored goals in the B’s 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. But get a load of these advantages the Bruins held, as dug up by Boston Sports Journal’s Conor Ryan.
— Shot attempts: 35-9
— Shots on goal 20-5
— Scoring chances 18-4
— High-danger scoring chances 7-1
That is, in a word, nuts.
Things, for the most part, have been clicking for the top two lines in the nine games since the trade deadline. The Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak combo always is reliable (even if the latter is on a bit of a goals drought), but what’s been really impressive is the emergence of the Hall-Krejci-Craig Smith second line.
The Bruins still have a handful of regular-season games to fine-tune things, but their top six forwards undoubtedly are a strength, and that only was emphasized Tuesday night.
