It's been four games since the All-Star break weekend took place and over that time, the Bruins coaching staff have worked extra hard looking for answers to why their power play has become a power outage. The team has only scored one goal with the man advantage in 17 chances and over their last three games they have gone 0 for 13.
These kinds of numbers are not what you expect from a team of the Bruins caliber and as all fans know to have longevity in the playoffs, your power play needs to be on top of its game.
And it's not for a lack of chances. This team has had ample time to try to find a way to put the puck in the net and yet they cannot do it.
Some players including James van Riemsdyk who has been known to be a power play specialist weighed in on the troubles with the man advantage and gave his thoughts.
"We've shown foundationally and structure-wise that we have a good plan that works,» van Riemsdyk said. "Sometimes puck luck goes your way, sometimes it doesn't, but I think ultimately you just want to make sure you're having a good process, getting a lot of chances and usually kind of the law of averages and numbers will go back your way."
The Bruins played the Kraken tonight and lost 4-1 with two power play opportunities which came up to 0.
As this problem continues to intensify, it's quite possible the Bruins will be seeking out help through the trade deadline in looking for a top 9 forward who will potentially ignite their power play. It's also possible the team is just gripping their sticks too hard and this is just a case of bad luck.
The Bruins will continue their homestand as the Los Angeles Kings will play in TD Garden on Saturday February 17th. Game time will be 12:30 PM eastern.
Source - The Hockey News - How Bruins Plan to Address Power Play Woes
