Brazeau goals boost power play
The Bruins are looking for a little more jolt when it comes to their power play.
The club entered Tuesday night’s showdown with the Senators at TD Garden having cashed in 49 times on 209 chances with the man advantage, a 23.4 percent success rate, good for ninth in the NHL.
Those numbers can be a bit deceiving as a lot of the success came during the first half of the season.
To wit: Boston scored two or more power-play goals in a game seven times in the 35 games prior to Jan. 1. In 35 games since, they’ve done it just three times, after going 2 for 4 in a 6-2 win over the Senators. Justin Brazeau scored both PPGs vs. Ottawa, tallying in the second and third periods.
David Pastrnak, who has 12 goals and 33 points on the power play, acknowledged the unit’s struggles ahead of Tuesday’s improvements.
“There’s not much good lately besides [Charlie Coyle’s] goal last game [Saturday’s 6-5 win over the Flyers], but we keep each other in high standards, especially on the power play,” Pastrnak said. “Every time we go over the boards, we want to create at least momentum for the team or score a goal. For me it is a little harder to not be [good], but usually we are going to turn it around and I know also we always have some tough stretches, but I think we know what’s the recipe.”
For Pastrnak, patience and a little puck luck are the keys.
“I think we have to be more patient to be trying to look for the ‘A’ look right away and instead maybe possess it and then recover the puck and that’s when the holes open up,” he said. “We know the recipe, [we] just need a couple goals to get going and I think it’s going to turn good soon.”
Pastrnak’s prediction was spot on. The Bruins scored multiple power-play goals for the first time since March 7 against the Maple Leafs.
While Pastrnak’s one-timer is one of the most dangerous weapons in the league, a change in personnel and extra attention from opponents has cut down on opportunities for him to unleash it.
“I haven’t been getting as many one-timers as usual, but that’s also [because] we have [Pavel Zacha] who is lefthanded on the bumper so it’s playing more on that side,” said Pastrnak, who in previous seasons had the righthanded Patrice Bergeron in that spot. “I’m a little bit lower than usual because of the bumper. Pav’s one-timer is on my side, so it’s a couple of different looks of how I set. We’ve been practicing it.
“We looked much better [Monday] at practice, so hopefully we can translate it to the game and vary a couple of goals and get the PP going.”
Coach Jim Montgomery appreciates the hustle from his top unit of Pastrnak, Zacha, Coyle, Brad Marchand, and defenseman Charlie McAvoy — but he’d like to see more pucks on net.
“I’ve liked the effort,” Montgomery said. “I thought we’ve come up with a lot of loose pucks. I would still like us to find the bumper on retrievals more often and I would like to see more convergence and a shotfirst attitude from everyone. I’m not saying they have to shoot, but they should look, and it looks like right now, like Marchy gets the puck, he’s looking to pass, he moves it up to Charlie [McAvoy]. Charlie’s looking for his next pass instead of, ‘Can we score?’ I want a little more of a ‘Can we score?’ attitude.”
On the defensive
Andrew Peeke played his third straight game in the third defensive pairing with Kevin Shattenkirk, who sat out the previous two contests. Shattenkirk picked up three assists and each finished at plus-2.
Mason Lohrei and Parker Wotherspoon were the odd men out.
Shattenkirk quarterbacked the second power-play unit and earned a helper on Brazeau’s first goal. Montgomery kept Hampus Lindholm off the power play so he could concentrate on defense.
“I told Lindy about a week ago and I told him again [Monday] that I know he can run the power play but his focus right now that I want is for him to be the shutdown guy and first PK guy out with [Brandon Carlo],” Montgomery said. “It’s just owning and relishing your role. I know he can do the power play. He’s proven it since he’s been here.”
Lauko in for JVR
James van Riemsdyk was the healthy scratch among the forwards, with Jakub Lauko taking his spot on the third line with Morgan Geekie (two assists) and Trent Frederic . . . Marchand entered the game with 61 points on the season. He’s hit the 60-point plateau for the ninth time, tying Rick Middleton for third-most in franchise history behind Ray Bourque (15) and Johnny Bucyk (12) . . . The Bruins host the Rangers Thursday night before starting a six-game road trip that begins in Philadelphia Saturday . . . Tongue twisters: The Senators have both Brady Tkachuk and Boris Katchouk in their lineup . . . Sign of the night: “Swayman you’re our favorite human ever. Britt Jess.” . . . Song of the night: “Miss Me,” by Drake (featuring