NEW YORK – The Bruins are set for their first contest of 2025 when they visit the New York Rangers on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in the second game of their three-game road trip. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the 7 p.m. ET puck drop on NESN and 98.5 The Sports Hub:
Looking to Power Up
The Bruins believed their power play could have made a difference in Tuesday afternoon’s loss to Washington when it went 0 for 2 in a 3-1 loss to the Capitals. As such, Boston put a focus on the man advantage over the past two days as it continues to try to improve what has been a disappointing part of its game this season (30th in the NHL at 13%).
“We have a job to do today,” David Pastrnak said following Thursday’s morning skate at MSG. “We tried a couple different looks [at morning skate]. Be more direct, have to capitalize on the power play. Cost us the game last game. You don’t have to score every time but need to make sure we create the momentum for our team.”
Pastrnak, who has been a force on the power play throughout his career, said that confidence plays a big part in any unit’s success.
“You are there for a reason on the power play and you’ve got to make plays,” he said. “We have a great kill, the killers gonna kill some plays, but you have to make sure you’re still there to make plays and don’t force stuff and don’t rush the shot because we have to shoot more - yes, we do, but at the same time you can’t rush it.
“And once you shoot it, you have to recover the pucks. Be confident and make plays.”
Interim coach Joe Sacco had the team’s top unit of Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, Pavel Zacha, and Elias Lindholm back together for Thursday’s morning skate after trying out some different combinations in recent games.
“We feel as a staff that that’s important for our team right now,” said Sacco. “I just feel that right now, the way the power play is running, we need to rely on those guys, they’re our top guys. I’m pretty confident that we’re gonna get it turned around with that group.”
While the top unit was reunited, they did experiment with Pastrnak taking some spins in the bumper position.
“Just some different looks,” said Sacco. “Make some adjustments to it. Any time things aren’t going the way you want them to, you have to make some changes, you can’t stand still. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Pastrnak has never played the bumper before but spent nearly a decade watching former linemate Patrice Bergeron, who is one of the best to play that position, patrol that area on the man advantage.
“Just tried it in practice to see how it is. I never played there but maybe something moving forward we can look at it,” said Pastrnak. “I watched [Bergeron] for a very long time, that definitely helps. When I was skating around there as a bumper, I was thinking of the way he always moved. Was one of the best bumpers I’ve seen. Definitely a guy that you can learn from a lot.”
