The Boston Bruins’ first two games under interim head coach Joe Sacco have not been masterpieces. A 1-0 win over the struggling Utah Hockey Club on Thursday and a 2-1 win over the similarly struggling Detroit Red Wings on Saturday won’t be knocking anyone’s socks off.
That’s OK. Because what’s most important is that the Bruins have gotten two wins and have started to lay a foundation that they can build off in terms of their identity and how they need to play.
That foundation was always supposed to be defense and goaltending, but both had fallen well short of expectations through 20 games. In the last two, however, the Bruins have found their defensive structure, and Joonas Korpisalo (22-save shutout on Thursday) and Jeremy Swayman (18 saves on 19 shots Saturday) have both stepped up when called upon. Saturday was especially important for Swayman as he looks to get his season on track after giving up 12 goals in his previous two starts.
Korpisalo and Swayman have both gotten a lot of help in front of them. The Bruins have given up just 41 shots on goal total over the last two games. The 19 allowed on Saturday tied for their best mark of the season. At 5-on-5, these two games rate as their two best of the season in terms of expected goals against, according to Natural Stat Trick (1.05 on Thursday followed by 0.93 on Saturday).
Their rush defense has been vastly improved. Their net-front coverage has been better. Their breakouts have been cleaner. They have managed pucks better in the offensive zone and neutral zone. All of it has forced their last two opponents to work harder for any opportunities.
“I think that the commitment for our guys is protecting the front of the net first, and we’re doing a better job of that,” Sacco told NESN after Saturday’s win. “We’re trying to keep the play to the outside. That’s when we’re at our best. Same thing defending the rush. I still think that we can get better, but there’s steps in the right direction.”
Another area that the Bruins were hoping would be a strength was special teams, but their power play and penalty kill had instead been major weaknesses out of the gate. Those, too, have shown signs of a turnaround these last few days.
The Bruins went 1-for-7 on the man advantage Thursday, but landed a season-high 18 power-play shots on net. On Saturday, they went 1-for-2, with Tyler Johnson (back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch Thursday) setting up Justin Brazeau to open the scoring.
JB starts it off. pic.twitter.com/7egNG7KUN7
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 24, 2024
The penalty kill has been even better, going a perfect 8-for-8 in these last two games, including 4-for-4 on Saturday against a Red Wings power play that ranked top five in the NHL coming in. In fact, Boston’s PK is now 14-for-14 over the last five games. Detroit mustered just five shots on those four man advantages Saturday, with the Bruins also generating a couple shorthanded looks. The biggest kill came in the final 1:22 of the game, with the extra attacker creating a 6-on-4 for Detroit.
“I just think that the guys are starting to find their rhythm a little bit more,” Sacco said of the PK. “I like our reads. I like our stick positioning. We can clean up some of the clears as far as coming out of our zone, but then you need some big saves, and we got the saves as well. Special teams plays a big part in the game, and especially the last minute or so, we were able to dig in and get that big one.”
There is still plenty more work for the Bruins to do. Brad Marchand’s go-ahead goal with 8:30 left in regulation Saturday was their first 5-on-5 goal in three games. Quality scoring chances remain hard to come by for this team. If we’re going to note the low expected goals against above, we’ll note here that these last two games also rate as two of their bottom seven in 5-on-5 expected goals for (1.08 on Thursday, 1.40 on Saturday).
63 SNIPE 🚀 pic.twitter.com/JZocyOPeFy
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 24, 2024
The Bruins especially need David Pastrnak to rediscover his finishing touch. He looks like a player who is overthinking things right now, as he either passed out of or was too hesitant on several golden opportunities Saturday. A confident, top-of-his-game Pastrnak buries one, two or maybe even three of the looks he got. Pastrnak did at least pick up the secondary assist on Marchand’s goal, though, and he also set up Boston’s only goal on Thursday.
This team is not built to be an offensive juggernaut, but it is going to need to find another offensive level at some point. It is also going to need to prove that it can turn two good games into three, four, five – something it hasn’t done all season.
What the Bruins needed to do first, though, was rediscover their defensive identity and get their special teams on track. Those were the top items on Sacco’s to-do list this week following Jim Montgomery’s firing. So far, so good.
“We definitely know we can,” Marchand said on NESN regarding the Bruins’ belief that they can keep building. “We still didn’t have our best game. There’s some good things that we can take out of this game that we can continue to build on, but like I said, it’s not easy to win in this league and you have to be happy about it. So, we’ll be excited, but we have a lot of work to continue to do and continue to get better. But it’s definitely something that you get excited about, and we’re starting to understand how we need to play to win.”
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