Boston Bruins: 4 Changes That Turned Them into NHL's Highest Scoring Team

The question is simple enough. How does a team adhering to Claude Julien’s traditionally defensive-minded system top the NHL’s charts at the other end of the ice?

The short answer is equally plain. The Boston Bruins garner sufficient scoring chances whenever their skaters, forwards and defensemen alike, usurp the puck in their own end, which is bound to happen on a routine basis when a defense-first doctrine works.

But naturally, once the border patrol spontaneously morphs into the strike force, they need to plug in the parts to polish off their opportunities. And since he perched him behind the Boston bench in 2007, Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli has worked with Julien to make a two-way titan out of the skipper’s innately defensive mentality.

Through a combination of Chiarelli importing and inserting the requisite players, Julien fostering those players to fit into his system and even altering the system to add a harmless extra layer of offensive emphasis, the Bruins have reached regal goal-scoring status. The four topmost factors in that elevation are as follows.

Power Play Surge

As was the case last season, the Bruins have been the league’s best five-on-five performers for the better part of 2011-12, although they recently dipped into a tie for second in that category.

Last season, subsisting heavily on an even-strength rating of 1.4, Boston placed fifth in the NHL in terms of total offensive output with 2.98 goals per game. All that was restraining them from a higher number or ranking was a mediocre power play that finished 20th in the circuit with a 16.2 percent success rate.

Through their first 53 games, this year’s Bruins have retained a 1.51 five-on-five rating and soared nine spots on the power-play leaderboard to 11th overall, converting 18.8 percent of their chances.

Emphasis on Balance

Assuming he maxes out his potential, Tyler Seguin will eventually be a regular in the 40- or 50-goal range. But he is not yet at the same striking frequency as the young man he was effectively traded for.

The only reason Phil Kessel has not yet exceeded his career-high of 36 goals from his final year as a Bruin is because he subsequently went from a burgeoning Cup contender to a perennial playoff no-show. (Although, both of those facts are likely to change before this regular season runs out.)

In 2008-09, when the team finished second behind only Detroit on the NHL’s offensive leaderboard, Kessel personally accounted for a leading 13.3 percent of Boston’s total strikes. Since he was dealt, a team that was already exercising a four-rolling-lines approach amplified its stress on reaping a little more out of each puckslinger.

The result: Milan Lucic, just to name one, has surprised the better part of his followers by becoming an established top-sixer. Others are producing or bordering on top-six caliber data even while residing in the lower half of the depth chart.

So far this season, Lucic and Seguin are the Bruins’ offensive copilots, each with 11.2 percent of the firsthand output to their credit. They are followed closely by Brad Marchand (10.6 percent) and another nine players who already have or likely will crack double digits in the goal column by season’s end.

Among those who figure to accomplish that are all of the top-six forwards, each regular third-liner, potentially two fourth-liners in Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell and defenseman Zdeno Chara.

Bergeron and the Young Guns

Playing the better part of this season on the wings of the multifaceted Patrice Bergeron, Marchand and Seguin have each formulated a sophomore surge for themselves.

Marchand has played 30 fewer games than in 2010-11, yet is only two goals away from equating his rookie log of 21-20-41. Seguin needed only 50 outings this season to double his 74-game point total of 22 from last year.

Marchand spent roughly half of last season toiling with the bottom six while Seguin was consistently confined to a limited role. Being allied with Boston’s top faceoff man, most viable Selke Trophy candidate and arguably the team’s best active passer has allowed both wingers to unveil their top offensive game.

Playmaking Peverley

Rich Peverley was with the Atlanta Thrashers for the better part of the 2010-11 regular season and all but a nonfactor in his first 23 appearances with Boston after being imported at the trade deadline.

But since then, he has logged a 4-8-12 scoring transcript in 25 playoff games and enters Tuesday night’s action with 28 assists and 37 points through 47 outings this season.

Before Peverley hit his full stride as a Bruin, the team averaged 2.98 goals for fifth in the league to finish the 2010-11 regular season. Boston remained No. 5 on the NHL leaderboard when they upgraded that median to 3.24 in the 2011 postseason and has since averaged a league-leading nightly output of 3.36 this season.