Morning Skate: Bruins Power Play units
Bruins work on special teams
The Boston Bruins preseason and training camp continues. Yesterday, the Bruins during the team’s morning skate, they practiced on their power play. This revealed how they might just be lining up to start the season.
The breakdown was as follows:
Power Play 1: McAvoy, Marchand, Pastrnak, Zacha, Van Reimsdyk
Power Play 2: Lindholm, Shattenkirk, DeBrusk, Geekie, Coyle
For the first unit, head coach Jim Montgomery is maintaining the same strategy as last season using four forwards and his top defenseman in Charlie McAvoy. The newest name was the man in front of the net, James Van Reimsdyk.
The former UNH Wildcat and longtime NHL veteran has been known as a Bruins killer. He scored 37 points in 49 games against Boston, which is the most against any other team he has faced. JVR only has 151 power play points in 300 career games, but his net front presence that he is known for could prove to be very valuable. He provides a physical presence for rebound goals and will be there to screen the goalie to help shots find their way into the net.
For the the second unit, the two new additions are Kevin Shattenkirk and Morgan Geekie. The Bruins did not splurge in free agency, but these were two names they did land in the offseason.
Shattenkirk takes the place of Dmitry Orlov who returned to the Washington Capitals. While he doesn’t have the scoring prowess Orlov had, Shattenkirk brings 13 years of NHL experience into a relatively young unit. The 34 year old has averaged anywhere between 18-21 minutes the last five seasons.
Geekie is the first Seattle Kraken to become a Boston Bruin.
Geekie played a fourth line role with the Kraken the previous two seasons. He signed with Boston this last on a 2 year/$4 million after putting up 28 points despite averaging just over 10 minutes of ice time. Geekie was with a better Kraken team his second season leading to a plus 14. His first year he put up 22 points while averaging 12 minutes of ice time, but was a -16 on the ice.
The 25 year old being on the second unit allows for another face off option as he is a career 51% faceoff winner. In terms of breakout candidates for the Bruins, Geekie is on the top of my list given the immediate opportunities he is in line to see.
The Boston Bruins lost 4-1 to the Buffalo Sabers in their second preseason game on Wednesday night. Boston goes back home to take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night. This will be third of six preseason games.
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