Penalties continue to condemn Bruins in ugly shutout loss to Leafs originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
All the progress the Boston Bruins made in their two shutout victories last weekend was undone, and then some, in a brutal 4-0 loss to the rival Maple Leafs on Tuesday night in Toronto.
The main problems for the Bruins, which were huge problems through the first fourteen games of the season, were too many penalties and a mediocre penalty kill.
The B’s took eight (!) minor penalties, giving the Leafs a whopping seven power play opportunities, and they scored on three of them. Taking so many penalties against any opponent is unacceptable. When you do it against a team like the Leafs that has so much offensive firepower, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Even without first-line center Auston Matthews – who missed the game due to injury – the Leafs have more than enough top talent to punish the Bruins’ penalty. William Nylander is an elite offensive player. He scored a goal with one assist on the power play. Mitch Marner, another elite forward, had two assists on the power play.
After a scoreless first twenty minutes, the Leafs found the back of the net twice in the second period with the man advantage. The first was a goal by defenseman Morgan Rielly at 8:44 of the period. Less than a minute later, David Pastrnak high-sticked Jake McCabe, giving Toronto another power play. It didn’t take long for Nylander to make Pastrnak and the B’s pay with another goal.
The Bruins are the most undisciplined team in the NHL. There is no discussion about it. They lead the league in penalty minutes and minor penalties.
And it’s not just that the Bruins lead the league in penalty kill. It’s not even close. They have taken at least twelve more penalties than any other team.
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Frankly, many of these punishments are stupid mistakes. Stick violations and offensive zone penalties are killing the B’s right now. They took three tripping penalties, one hooking penalty and one high-sticking penalty against the Leafs. All these fines are avoidable. They happen because of a lack of discipline.
The penalty kill wasn’t good, but honestly, it’s hard to keep the lights out consistently when you’re on the ice for six to 10 minutes in most games. The Bruins have given opponents four or more power plays in nine of their first fourteen games. Their opponent has had five power plays in eight of the fourteen games.
If you’re a Bruins fan looking for something positive to come out of all of this, it’s that a lot of these penalties can be erased with better discipline and just plain smarter hockey. For example, David Pastrnak has taken 1.79 penalties per 60 minutes through 14 games. Last season he was at 0.66. There is a lot of room for improvement.
The fines can be cleaned up. Figuring out how to score at 5-on-5 and fixing the power play will take a little more work.
