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Bruins ranked second last in the league in a stat and it needs to change
Photo credit: The Hockey News
While the Boston Bruins are 5-2-0 with Joe Sacco in charge, their power play is at a dismal 12.0% in the league.
The Bruins have benefitted from a major shakeup in the coaching staff, as Joe Sacco has turned the team's fortunes around. The team is now 3rd in the Atlantic Division and could be nipping at the heels of the Toronto Maple Leafs if they continue the quality of play we've seen recently.
But there's a weakness in the Bruins' offense that needs to be addressed, the power play.
The power play is just above the New York Islanders, who are currently showcasing an 11.5% percentage under Patrick Roy.
How can they improve it?
Joe Sacco addressed the topic at Warrior Ice Arena:
«We're having struggles with it right now, so we want to make sure that we're covering all our bases,» Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said Saturday at Warrior Ice Arena. «We want to see players in different spots and see how we look today in practice. We'll judge it after and make an assessment to decide what we want to do moving forward.»
Sacco recently changed up the units placing Pastrnak, and Marchand on separate units, and there should be some improvement.
His reasoning for this mix-up:
«It's just really to break it up and maybe put two competitive groups together,» said Sacco. «Sometimes, when you have that competition amongst yourselves, it makes for guys getting out there and challenging each other more.»
But since November 30th, the shuffling has continued as they didn't score a power-play goal until December 3rd against the Detroit Red Wings, and on the 7th against the Philadelphia Flyers, thanks to Trent Frederic.
And yet out of 37 power-play opportunities in their last 10 games, they've only been able to convert on 5.
While the good news is putting Frederic in front of the net may have increased his trade value, the Bruins are going through the motions trying to find the perfect power-play lineup.
There's plenty of room for improvement, but can they find the magic combination? Maybe once Martin St. Louis is fired he can be brought in for the power-play?
That's how Columbus fixed theirs in 2019.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 9 | 79 ANSWERS Bruins ranked second last in the league in a stat and it needs to change Do you think Head Coach Joe Sacco of the Boston Bruins can figure out how to improve the team's power play? | ||
| Yes | 51 | 64.6 % |
| No | 28 | 35.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
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