Bruins’ lackluster defensive play is becoming a legit concern
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Bruins’ lackluster defensive play is becoming a legit concern originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
A large portion of the Boston Bruins’ success over the last 15 years has been tied to elite defense. It’s a huge reason why the B’s have won more regular season games (743) since the start of the 2007-08 campaign than any other franchise.
The Bruins are off to a great start this season, too. Boston enters Monday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 14-3-3 record, and their 31 points are tied for the most in the NHL.
But even though the Bruins are in a good position as far as the standings are concerned, some worrying trends are starting to emerge defensively. And if these issues aren’t corrected, we could be headed for another season that ends with an early playoff exit for the B’s.
The latest example of the Bruins’ struggles defensively happened during Thanksgiving week.
The Bruins lost 5-2 to the Detroit Red Wings at home Friday. On Saturday, the B’s gave up a season-high in goals and lost 7-4. The Bruins, in these two games combined, gave up 122 shot attempts, 69 shots on goal, 65 scoring chances, 31 high-danger chances and 12 goals. The 23 high-danger chances the Bruins allowed to the Rangers are a season-high and the most they’ve given up in one game since 2017.
“I think it’s a continuum,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters Saturday, when discussing the last two games. “We played similarly. Not willing to forecheck. Not willing to work for offense. And then the breakdowns defensively. We’re not giving our goaltenders an opportunity like we were before of stopping strong-side shots. They’ve got to worry about the weak side. They’ve got to worry about the back post. Unfortunately, our habits and details have kind of eroded on us defensively here in the last two games.”
“Did we sense this coming? We’ve been giving up a fair amount of chances,” Montgomery added. “The East-West chances are something that we hadn’t been giving up…
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