"The Boston Bruins' 2025-26 season has been anything but predictable for Marco Sturm and Co. Boston's progression under its first-year head coach has been about as linear as a Tarantino script - with a three-game win streak undercut by six straight losses in regulation ... followed by a current stretch that includes six wins in seven contests. It remains to be seen what type of ceiling this hard-working, albeit flawed, roster boasts."
"Through the first few weeks of the 2025-26 season, Boston's lack of defensive fortitude stood as their most confounding shortcoming - especially on a team whose perceived identity was rooted in a stingy approach in the D-zone. Through the first 13 games of the season, the Bruins were surrendering 2.95 expected goals per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play - the fourth-worst mark in the NHL."
"Over their last three games, the Bruins' 1.89 expected goals against per 60 is third in the league - trailing only the Avalanche and Kings. On Saturday against a high-powered Hurricanes lineup, Carolina generated just seven high-danger chances at 5-on-5 play in a 2-1 Bruins victory, while the Senators - the same club that dropped seven goals on Boston just 10 days prior - only produced four 5-on-5 high-danger chances on Thursday night in a 3-2 overtime victory."
The Bruins have shown streaky performance under first-year head coach Marco Sturm, alternating short win runs with prolonged losing stretches before a current hot stretch. Early-season defensive struggles were pronounced: through 13 games the team surrendered 2.95 expected goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, the fourth-worst mark in the NHL, exposing both Joonas Korpisalo and Jeremy Swayman to frequent high-quality chances. Defensive metrics have improved recently, with a 1.89 expected goals against per 60 over the last three games, ranking third league-wide. Recent games limited high-danger chances by Carolina and Ottawa. A longer sample is necessary to confirm sustained improvement.
Read at Boston.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]