Bruins still looking for offensive spark after coaching change originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

BOSTON – The Bruins have played better since firing Jim Montgomery and naming Joe Sacco interim head coach last week. But one glaring problem that has persisted despite the coaching change is the lack of consistent goal scoring.

And in an NHL where speed and skill are absolutely essential to winning games for long periods of time, the Bruins have fallen short time and time again during the 2024-2025 season.

Tuesday night’s 2-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at TD Garden was just the latest example. And not only did the Bruins fail to score against the Canucks, the winning goal was tallied by Jake DeBrusk, who gave Boston a free pass after averaging 23.6 goals over the past three seasons.

The Bruins were eliminated for the fourth time this season, something that happened only twice in 82 games last year. However, this shutout was a little different than the previous three shutout losses. The Bruins actually generated a lot of chances to score, but they just couldn’t finish.

“We just have to start burying our chances,” Sacco said after the game. “I think we’re giving ourselves a chance now to compete in games. The guys are defending hard, but offensively we need to get some guys going and find their scoring touch.”

Here’s the final breakdown of key shot stats (5-on-5 numbers in parentheses):

• Shot attempts: 72-31 (57-23) Bruins

• Shots on net: 33-15 (25-12) Bruins

• Scoring opportunities: 36-11 (27-8) Bruins

• High risk of danger: 18-2 (13-1) Bruins

This heat map, via Natural Stat Trick, shows how dominant the Bruins were in the offensive zone (the redder the better) and how non-existent the Canucks offense was throughout the game, with the exception of one power play goal.

“I think we’re creating a lot of chances,” Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei said. “We’re playing the right way. It’s coming.”

The Bruins played a nearly flawless game defensively. They gave up season lows in shots on net (12), scoring chances (eight) and high-risk chances (one) at 5-on-5. The Canucks were fortunate to leave Boston with two points after scoring next to nothing at even strength.

“We just have to keep playing the right way,” Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “We’re putting the emphasis on defense here and we’re doing a great job. I think it’s helped our attacking game, we just can’t score.”

The Bruins have not scored more than two goals in six straight games. In only eight of their 23 matches have they scored the three-goal mark.

Will the dam eventually break? There are a few signs that this could happen.

In the three games since Sacco took over as head coach, the Bruins have a 187-142 edge in shot attempts, a 93-57 edge in shots on net, an 87-48 edge in scoring chances and a margin from 37-13 on high shots. – danger opportunities. They have scored just three times in this period despite the ice being tilted so heavily in their favor.

But if the Bruins continue to generate shots and scoring opportunities at this pace, they will eventually break through. This roster doesn’t feature many elite skills, but there is far too much talent for this group to rank last with a 2.32 goals per game rating and have the second worst power play with a 12 success rate .8 percent. It’s also quite surreal that the Bruins have played thirteen home games and have only scored once in the third period during those games. That’s one goal in 260 minutes of third-period hockey on home ice.

But the Bruins can’t just wait for their shooting percentage to rise to normal levels. They have to keep attacking and create some of their own luck.

The list of Bruins players struggling to make an impact is long and includes many of the team’s best forwards.

Charlie Coyle scored a career-high 25 goals last season. He scored four goals in 23 games. Pavel Zacha has scored 21 goals in each of the past two seasons. He scored three goals in 23 games. Trent Frederic scored a career-high 18 goals last season. He also has three goals in 23 games, with two of those coming in a Nov. 16 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Morgan Geekie, who started the season as a right wing in the second line, has scored just one goal in 18 games after finding a career-high 17 times behind the net last season.

Elias Lindholm signed a seven-year contract worth $54.25 million in free agency to become the Bruins’ No. 1 center. He has scored one goal in his last 19 games and zero assists in his last eight games. That’s a worrying sign for a player whose rating is on track to decline for the third straight time.

Even David Pastrnak, who leads the team in goals (eight) and assists (11), hasn’t scored in his last five games and has two goals in his last 14 games.

The Bruins have made improvements defensively and on the penalty kill since Sacco took over the bench. The team’s level of competition and attention to detail have also improved. All of these factors have given the Bruins the opportunity to win games on a consistent basis, which is a positive step forward.

But those improvements won’t mean much if this team continues to struggle to score and can’t find any consistency on the power play. Scoring fewer than 2.5 goals per game and failing to generate any momentum with the man advantage is not a recipe for reaching the play-offs.

“We have a lot of guys who can score, and it’s a long season,” Lohrei said. “It’s starting to come in for us.”