Bruins’ third period improvement is very encouraging entering playoffs
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Bruins’ third period improvement is very encouraging entering playoffs originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
It wasn’t too long ago when the Boston Bruins’ inability to close out games was a very real problem.
In fact, you could have argued that it was the biggest concern the team had to address before the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs arrive.
There was one point in February when the Bruins blew a third-period lead four times in a six-game stretch, which included several matchups against playoff-caliber opponents.
Fast forward to early April and the B’s are finally starting to figure out how to close games. The latest example came Thursday night in Carolina, where the Bruins played fantastic over the final 20 minutes to secure a 3-1 win against an opponent that entered the night with an 8-1-1 record in its last 10 games.
“I think the biggest growth we’ve seen is how confident we are in third periods now,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said in his postgame interview with NESN.
“It’s nice to see in a 0-0 game (vs. Predators on Tuesday), we go out and win a game 3-0, and did it looking like a confident team. And now, we’re up 3-1 on another elite team and we push the lead to 4-1. I don’t think we gave up that much. I thought our D corps was excellent. I thought they played a great game tonight. And I thought our forwards did their job.”
Back on Feb. 28, the Bruins were 25-1-8 when leading after two periods. That .735 win percentage when leading after 40 minutes ranked 28th out of 32 NHL teams. The Bruins have now won seven consecutive games when they lead after two periods, which is another example of their improvement in clutch moments.
The recent improvement really started last Tuesday in Florida against a very good Panthers team. The Bruins went into the third period tied at two and played fantastic, scoring two goals and giving up only five shots in a 4-3 win.
The Bruins didn’t allow a goal in the third period or overtime against the Capitals in a shootout win…
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