Three Observations From Joe Sacco’s Bruins Coaching Debut

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins’ new era under interim head coach Joe Sacco officially got underway on Thursday night with an 1-0 win over the Utah Hockey Club at TD Garden.

Sacco told reporters after his first practice on Wednesday that in order for the team to break out of their slump he wanted the Bruins to get back to being a “hard team to play against.”

“I want teams to know it’s going to be hard to score goals against us,” Sacco said. “Our offense will come. There’s enough players in here that are going to score goals.”

The Bruins showed up to play from the opening faceoff to give Sacco his first win at the helm.

Here are three observations from the Black and Gold’s victory.

POWER PLAY
Although the Bruins couldn’t solve Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka in the first period, Boston registered nine shots on goal across three power-play opportunities.

Sacco changed up the power play by adding Georgii Merkulov to the top unit with David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Elias Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy. The second unit featured Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha, Justin Brazeau, Morgan Geekie and Mason Lohrei.

In the second period, Sacco swapped Merkulov and Zacha and the Bruins peppered Vejmelka with four shots on their first opportunity.

The Bruins finally cashed in when Lindholm collected the loose puck in front of the crease for a layup tally.

Boston had more shots on the power play (18) than they did at even strength (13)

HARDER TO PLAY AGAINST
The Bruins certainly showed they can be a hard to play against holding Utah to just 13 shots through the first 40 minutes of play. Boston also showed their muscle with 18 hits to Utah’s six.

Joonas Korpisalo turned aside all 21 Utah shots he faced including three on the power play for his second shutout of the season.

The physical play was led by Mark Kastelic, who completely annihilated Robert Bortozzu in the second fight between the two in the second frame, and Nikita Zadorov who kept going toe-to-toe with Lawson Crouse.

SHOT FIRST MENTALITY
Not only did the Bruins limit Utah in offensive opportunities, Boston created their own offense by unleashing 31 shots on goal.

Pastrnak, who had zero shots on goal in Boston’s 5-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, had five in the game along with 10 attempts. The Bruins sniper thought he tallied his ninth goal of the season, but the goal was overturned due to Pastrnak collecting the puck with a high stick.

The Bruins will look to build on the win when they travel to Detroit to take on the Red Wings on Saturday.