Bruins Monthly Recap: October
It's been a strange first month for the bruins so far in the 2017 season. October has had a little bit of everything from each game, and I still don't know what kind of team we're looking at right now. But I'm still optimistic. They have played well on the power play with a 30% efficiency rating and excellent on the penalty kill at 85% efficiency. They've also had some impressive play out of their rookies, particularly Mcavoy and Bjork. Mcavoy is leading the team in assists with 7 while Bjork scored 2 goals against Vancouver, the day after injuring tuukka in practice. He has been a huge spark to the offense.
It hasn't been all good for the B's this year though and it's cost them a few times. The bruins have had trouble closing out/playing full games. They had a brutal 5-4 loss to buffalo in OT at home after leading 4-1 at one point in the game, but they also came back from down 3-0 against Columbus to force OT. Yet, they still couldn't come away with the W. In both those games they looked completely out of gas by the end and didn't pace themselves well at all. I think this is due in part to having so many young players and rookies that still need to learn to discipline themselves as far as energy goes. The neutral zone has been a big Achilles heal for the bruins this year too, which is something that we aren't used to seeing. They don't have many big bodies that can beat guys in the corners or get around defenders to win the dump and chase. Aside from Marchand and Pasta putting d men in the spin cycle coming into the zone, the dump and chase is pretty much all they have. The season is still young and with plenty of time to improve, I'm not really worried to be honest.
I've pointed out some good things we've done, and some bad things we've done and now I'm gonna address an improvement the bruins have made. This is gonna pretty much be my format for these monthly reviews. Anyhow, the goaltending has made huge strides this year despite the goals against numbers. While the bruins have allowed 2 more goals this year then they've scored, Anton Khudobin has already stepped up. Since tuukka went down with a concussion, he has gone 3-0-1, which is already better then he was last season at the same point in the year. Back up goaltending is going to be a big factor in the Bruins being successful this year.
My final discussion point is my player of the month for the bruins, which is undoubtedly Brad Marchand. Marchys already notched 13 points this season with 8 goals and 5 assists through 10 games. He's a huge factor on the power play and one of the strongest players on the puck that never seems outmatched despite his size disadvantage. Marchys got the crazy energy bursts that he uses to self pass into the zone and play the puck in the corners, or lead the transition odd man rush up Ice to create opportunities. While being physical, he also adds some silky mitts to his arsenal and his ability to shoot the puck wherever he wants on net from where ever he wants on the ice. I think Marchys gonna be an even bigger factor this year for the teams offense then he was last year, if he can stay out of trouble with the league.
