The third week of the NHL regular season is in full swing across the US and up to the great white north. Teams are battling it out for their spot atop the newly created divisions, including the men in black and gold skating on the ice on Causeway Street.
The Boston Bruins have posted a record of 3-2-0 in their first five games, giving them a total of 6 points.
They opened up the season with a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on home ice.
Concerns coming into this season included the loss of speed in some forwards, who will step up on the wing on the third line, and could Tuukka Rask continue his solid play as the number one goaltender?
So far there is no reason to sound the alarm on any of these topics. The Bruins are doing a good job making up for the loss of speed in Nathan Horton, Tyler Seguin, and Rich Peverly. Loui Eriksson is a quick, two-way player, so he is never lost in no mans land on the ice. New winger Reilly Smith is also a quick player and he has been noticeable in the first couple of games racking up three assists.
Carl Soderberg has not yet returned from an ankle injury that has plagued him in the preseason. Soderberg has recently been skating and is looking to get back into the lineup as soon as he can. In Soderberg’s place, previously mentioned Smith has stepped in.
Goaltender Tuukka Rask has been more than impressive starting all of the first five games this year. He has only allowed more than one goal once in those first five games, when the Detroit Red Wings put up two in Monday’s matinee loss. Through five, Tuukka has a 1.4 goals against average and a .951 save percentage.
Watching the Bruins over the past five seasons, it’s known that the power play unit has decreased in production since the loss of center Marc Savard. This season head coach Claude Julien has done some unorthodox things to get the Bruins power play working and the monkey off their back. They believe that they are a great team and can only benefit from a productive power play.
Julien has decided to throw behemoth captain Zdeno Chara in front of the net to screen goalies for his teammates to be able to sneak shots past the opposing goaltender. If Chara is not able to screen as he’d like to, he has the skill to collect rebounds and make finesse moves in close space to score. For being the tallest player ever to play the game professionally, Chara has some soft hands.
Newly named assistant captain David Krejci is having fun playing with two hard hitting, talented wingers Milan Lucic and Jarome Iginla. Boston’s first line is full of talent, experience, and packs a mean punch.
Lucic is the teams leading scorer with 3 goals and 5 points. Krejci has 4 points, all assists. Jerome Iginla has 1 point for 1 assist, which came when he had broken his stick, but quickly retrieved one from the bench, continued back into the play, and set up Chris Kelly for an equalizing goal against Columbus.
This first line has been noticeably involved and is creating a lot of scoring chances for themselves.
Another line that over the past few games has really hit its stride is the second line, compiled of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and Eriksson.
Eriksson is second on the team with two goals, while Bergeron and Marchand also have a goal respectively. This line is just too good to stay quiet for long. The relentlessness and peskiness of Marchand combined with the savvy of both Bergeron and Eriksson makes for a hell of a combination of forwards. This could be a highly productive line for Claude Julien throughout this season.
Chris Kelly has already started off this year on a good note netting two goals for himself in the first couple of games this year. That is the start that he needs of a career low season last year. He is a leader on this team adorning that “A” on his sweater.
We’re all waiting for this gritty fourth line to emerge this season. Sometimes a slow start happens, but the best fourth line in the NHL has been held pointless and voiceless in the early going. Thornton has dropped the gloves but he needs to have that surge of energy this line injects into the rest of this lineup on a nightly basis.
The Bruins are on a three game road trip while the circus is in town. They play on Thursday against Florida, Saturday versus Tampa, and next Wednesday against Buffalo.
