Craziest stats from Bruins’ record start and what they mean going forward originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins reached the Thanksgiving holiday in far better shape from an injury perspective and an NHL standings perspective than most people imagined.
Despite not having three important players in Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk to begin the season, the Bruins started off red-hot and haven’t let up. They enter Friday’s matinee with the Carolina Hurricanes leading the league with 34 points (17-3-0) in 20 games.
Here are some of the craziest stats from the Bruins’ record-breaking start to the season and what they mean going forward.
Leading for 401:14 at home
It’s really quite remarkable how dominant the Bruins have played at home. Not only are they the only team without a loss of any kind on home ice (11-0-0 as of this writing), they have barely trailed at any point.
The Bruins have led an astounding 401:14 of ice time and trailed for just 13:12 in their 11 home games. The majority of that time trailing came on Nov. 10 against the Calgary Flames, when the Bruins tied the score 1-1 late in the first period and won 4-1.
Boston has trailed at any point in just two of these 11 home matchups.
The Bruins’ dominance at the Garden makes securing home ice advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs an important objective for this team.
20 Different goal scorers
The Bruins’ offensive depth has been crazy good this season with 20 different players scoring a goal. The only players who have played 10 or more games without a goal are defensemen Brandon Carlo and Mike Reilly.
Fifteen of those 20 players have scored two or more goals. The Bruins have played 13 games in which four different players have scored a goal, and Boston is 12-1-0 in those matchups.
Scoring depth has been a huge problem for the Bruins in recent years, especially in the playoffs. So far, it looks like depth up front is no longer a concerning roster weakness for Boston.
USA TODAY Sports
82 goals scored
The Bruins have scored three or more goals in 16 of their 20 games. They’ve scored four or more goals in 11 games and five-plus goals in 10 games.
The Bruins are flat out pounding opponents into submission offensively. And they’re doing it against really good teams, too. They’ve scored four or more goals against the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning — all playoff teams from…