As New Year Begins, Bruins Looking to Keep Building

NEW YORK – As the calendar flips to 2025 and the NHL schedule nears the halfway mark, the Bruins were reflecting a bit on Wednesday afternoon.

Overall, it has not been the first half they were expecting, but since Joe Sacco was named interim head coach on Nov. 19, the Black & Gold have made significant strides in shoring up their overall game.

“Our team, I think we’re trending in the right direction,” said Sacco, who has guided Boston to a 12-6-1 record (25 points) since the coaching change, which is tied with Washington and New Jersey for the fourth-best mark in the league over that span.

“There’s always some ups and downs during the course of 82 [games]. I thought [during Tuesday afternoon’s 3-1 loss in Washington] we played really well, special teams was probably the difference in the game but I thought we played a really solid 5-on-5 game. Sometimes…even when the process is the way you want it, you’re not gonna get the end result at times. Sometimes when you don’t have the process, you do end up with the end result.

“I think the team’s played well. We’ve tightened up areas of the game that we feel we need to. There’s still other areas that we need to improve on.”

Bruins captain Brad Marchand echoed Sacco’s sentiments, pointing to the club’s special teams struggles as an area that still needs refining. While both the power playa and penalty kill have improved slightly over the past 19 games, they still sit toward the bottom of the league.

“The first half, the first quarter wasn’t what we wanted it to be, what we expected it to be. Second quarter was definitely better, definitely areas we can improve, but our 5-on-5 has come,” said Marchand. “Special teams still need to be a little bit better, we know that. That’s probably the biggest thing we need to improve but our 5-on-5 game, our compete level, our structure’s gotten a lot better. You’re seeing the results.

“Even last night’s game, we didn’t win but we played well. We easily could’ve won that game, special teams was the difference. We need to be better in that area, that’s on our power play group, something we need to be better at it and focus on.”

Since the Bruins relieved Jim Montgomery of his duties on Nov. 19, Boston’s power play (14.8%) and penalty kill (75.5%) both rank 24^th in the NHL. For the season, the Bruins are 25^th on the penalty kill (75.6%) and 30^th on the power play (13%).

“I think special teams has to be more consistent,” said Sacco. “Our power play, we have to be able to produce more, but we also have to create more momentum. We had a swing going for a little while there where we started to, but it got away from us. We have to be better in that area…our 5-on-5 play, I feel like we’ve stabilized it for the most part. We can always try to produce more offensively but 5-on-5 has been stabilizing. The PK has given up some goals lately, but I still feel like that’s trending in the right direction. We’ve got to get the power play going.”

Dressin’ and Drivin’

The Bruins started the new year with a different kind of day in the Big Apple.

With practice taking place at the rink at Chelsea Piers along the Hudson River – an old school, recreational-type facility that’s home to a number of local youth and club teams – space was limited, meaning the Black & Gold were forced to dress at their hotel and bus over in full equipment.

“It’s always fun, these days, there’s not many opportunities to do this and dress at the hotel, come over here,” said Marchand. “It adds a different element to the day. Guys had a lot of fun with it. It’s a fun experience…any of these old, kind of rundown buildings and rinks, they’re not very comfortable, it’s definitely what we all grew up playing in and brings back being a kid.

“It’s awesome having the windows out on the water. It’s a cool place to practice…it’s a fun building to be in, guys had fun with it today.”

Sacco said he noticed an uptick in the energy level with the practice taking on a different setting than usual.

“Change of pace for the guys. Get a look at the outdoors,” said Sacco. “It was a 30-minute practice, just to get our legs under us. We’ve got a heavy workload, busy schedule. But it’s good, it’s good for the guys. You can see that the energy level is a little bit different when you change the scenery.”

Wait, There’s More

• Sacco said he is “leaning towards” starting Jeremy Swayman on Thursday night against the Rangers.
• Boston’s bench boss added that any changes to the power-play units will be something he will “sleep on tonight” and discuss with his staff on Thursday morning.
• Marchand on playing at Madison Square Garden: “It’s always fun, there’s a few buildings in the league you always get excited about. You look back, just all the different performers that have been there and the history that’s gone on in the building, not just in the league but throughout other sports and concerts, stuff like that, it’s pretty incredible. It’s always fun to see celebrities in the crowd. Adds a different element to the game. But New York is a historical building, historical place, we all enjoy being here. IT’s a great city to visit and to play in front of.”