The Boston Bruins came back from the NHL All-Star break hoping to extend their lead in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference standings. Instead, that lead has evaporated and for the first time since October the Bruins do not lead their division.
The Florida Panthers have caught the Bruins thanks to a four-game win streak and a 8-2-0 record in their last 10. Both teams are tied atop the East with 74 points, but the Panthers own the regulation wins tiebreaker with a 30-26 advantage.
The Bruins lost 4-1 to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night, dropping their record to 1-3-1 since the All-Star break. All five of these games have been played at TD Garden, where they'll play two more times before hitting the road again.
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What's been ailing the B's during this rough stretch? Here's a breakdown of three issues.
Bad special teams
Special teams are a huge problem for the Bruins right now.
The power play has gone cold. After an 0-for-2 showing Thursday, the B's are now 1-for-19 with the man advantage after the All-Star break.
Despite having the third-most power-play time (33:52) of any team in the league post-All Star break, the B's rank 15th in shots, 14th in scoring chances and 18th in high-danger chances with the man advantage, per Natural Stat Trick.
The penalty kill has been pretty bad, too. The Bruins have allowed power-play goals in four of their last five games (five goals total).
If you go back to when play resumed Dec. 27 following the holiday break, Boston's penalty kill ranks 27th out of 32 teams with a 74.7 percent success rate. The Bruins had the No. 3 penalty kill prior to Dec. 27.
The power-play woes could just be a rough patch. The penalty kill issues have been a concern for well over a month now and are worth monitoring.
Lackluster starts
When you're not scoring consistently, giving up the first goal and trailing by multiple goals can be really difficult to overcome.
The Bruins have allowed the first goal in three of their five games post-All Star break, and they've fallen behind by two or more goals in four of those five matchups. Boston has led after two periods only once in this span (a 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks).
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The Bruins are 2-11-1 when trailing after two periods this season. Their .133 win percentage in those scenarios ranks 22nd in the league. They ranked No. 1 with a .313 win percentage when trailing after two periods last season.
This year's roster doesn't have the same offensive firepower as the 2022-23 squad, so it's even more important they don't fall behind late in games.
Not enough finish
The final score Thursday did not accurately reflect the flow of the game. The Bruins dominated for large stretches and earned convincing advantages in shot attempts (72-50), shots on net (37-26), scoring chances (35-25) and high-danger chances (15-8). Goals expected were 3.83 for the Bruins and 2.5 for the Kraken. A couple defensive lapses proved costly.
Another issue for the B's right now is a lack of finish. Since play resumed after the All-Star break, Boston ranks 11th in scoring chances, 15th in high-danger chances, 15th in shots but 25th in goals scored, per Natural Stat Trick. The Bruins' 5.71 shooting percentage is the second-worst in the league over that span.
Simply put: The Bruins are creating enough scoring chances, they just aren't capitalizing. Teams go through these stretches at least a couple times every season, even the ones at the top of the standings.
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery doesn't seem overly concerned right now.
“Happy with a lot of parts of our game. We're not getting the results right now," Montgomery told reporters after the loss to the Kraken. "Sometimes you go through that during the season. We’ve got to stick together, keep working and keep grinding. It’s going to take some sandpaper goals where it goes off of us and stuff. That didn’t happen. We had incredible looks. We hit posts. Those things happen, and you have nights like that."