Penalty kill stands tall when left short
The way the season started, to have the Bruins penalty kill unit in the middle of the NHL pack is a victory. Factor in the lineup changes and injuries and it’s even more impressive. The Bruins penalty kill ranked 16th in the league with a 77.4 percentage, and given the atrocity in Washington to start the season, it’s far from bad.
BRUINS NOTEBOOK
Rookie Jeremy Lauzon was called on to kill penalties in his first NHL game, logging 1:47 with the man-down unit while Zdeno Chara served two minors. Being thrown into the fire isn’t a bad thing. “It feels pretty good that the coaching staff is confident in my ability,” the 21year-old said. “To play on the penalty kill, it’s nice.” Lauzon was brought up to win battles and contribute the energy he’s known for, so the physicality on Thursday night against the Flyers wasn’t alarming. If anything, he thrived, and carried it over to the penalty kill. “It doesn’t bother me, because I’m a physical player,” he said. “When it gets physical, I feel really comfortable on the ice.” The Bruins have been shorthanded 31 times, which also ranks right in the middle at 15th in the NHL. Aside from Washington, the Bruins haven’t faced a ton of firepower from opposing power plays. Their nine other opponents before last night average out to a 22.7 power play percentage, which would be 15th in the league — right in the middle. But even while they haven’t been overly tested, the penalty kill has steadily found its feet ahead of facing tougher teams. “We had a couple games there we weren’t great, but I think we’re starting to learn what we have to do,” said Brad Marchand, who works on the first unit. “It’s tough now in the league. Every team has guys who are going to make plays and guys are so talented now. It’s a lot harder to kill nowadays than it was a few years ago.” It gets a lot tougher with Dallas and Toronto upcoming, but some of the other near-future foes like Carolina and Vegas have had their man-advantage struggles as well. In due time, the Bruins penalty kill group will face some real challenges. Until then, they’ve righted the ship from what looked like a disaster after Game 1.
Krug inching closer
Torey Krug did not playlast night against the Canadiens, but pending practice prior to Tuesday, he could be in against Carolina. He hasn’t faced much contact yet, but that’s partially a product of where the team is at this point in the season. “The practices this time of year are a little bit lighter, so the team’s ready to play,” Krug said. “So it’s tough to get ready.” Krug tried to initiate some contact at Friday’s practice to get tested, but getting in game shape requires getting into games, which he hasn’t done since the end of the preseason. Still, he’s inching closer, and anticipates varied results in the physicality department. “Every practice is different and every game is different, there are games where I don’t get touched the whole game,” Krug said. “There’s games where every time you touch the puck you’re hit pretty hard. We try to assimilate things like that in practice, do a little bit of work in battle drills and stay out there to do extra, but it’s not the same.”
Pair on ice
David Backes and Charlie McAvoy skated before the team at Warrior Ice Arena yesterday morning. Urho Vaakanainen is yet to skate since suffering a concussion vs. Ottawa on Tuesday.