Bruins bounce back in Sacco’s first win, but can they build consistency?

Bruins bounce back in Sacco’s first win, but can they build consistency? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

BOSTON – The Bruins got a wakeup call earlier this week when management decided to fire trainer Jim Montgomery after an 8-9-3 start to the season, and the players responded with a strong performance Thursday night against the Utah Hockey Club.

Bruins won a hard-fought 1-0 victory at TD Garden, giving Joe Sacco his first win as interim head coach.

The B’s showed improvement in several key areas, especially special teams.

The power play entered Thursday with a league-worst success rate of 11.7 percent. That unit moved the puck better, consistently created scoring chances and found the back of the net as Elias Lindholm scored his first goal in 18 games. Boston’s power play went 1-for-7 overall, but it accounted for 18 shots, 10 scoring chances and six high-danger chances. There was an energy and crispness that was missing in previous matches.

The penalty kill also stepped up with a perfect 4-for-4 showing, including a huge kill late in the third period where the Bruins allowed zero shots on the Utah power play while protecting a 1-0 lead. Boston’s penalty kill ranked 25th in the league coming into this game.

The Bruins also look to be a shot volume team under Sacco. They were more of a shot-quality group with Montgomery, but with the team so desperate to score — it ranks 31st in goals scored per. match — is shooting as many pucks on net as possible the right approach for this list. The Bruins finished with 31 shots against Utah – just the sixth time they’ve had 30-plus in a game this season.

While this win was certainly a step in the right direction, it won’t mean much if the Bruins don’t build on it and establish some consistency in how they play and win games. We’ve seen the Bruins come back from poor performance a few times this season, only to see that momentum destroyed by more brutal defeats.

For example, the Bruins lost 8-2 on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes on Halloween to fall to 4-6-1. The rebounded with back-to-back shutout wins over the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken the following weekend. It looked like the B’s had turned a corner, but they went to Toronto two days later and lost 4-0 to the Leafs.

Bruins lost 3-2 in an ugly game against the Ottawa Senators on 9 November. They trailed 2-0 entering the third period of the following game against St. Louis Blues, and then scored three unanswered goals for their first third-term comeback win of the campaign. That result in St. Louis felt like a season-changing win, but it ended up being Montgomery’s last win behind the bench as Boston lost its next three games.

The one step forward, two steps back trend must reverse for the Bruins if they are to begin climbing the standings and live up to their potential. The B’s are 2-3-2 after a win this season and have yet to win more than two games in a row.

How do the Bruins build on Thursday’s win?

“Just details and habits,” Sacco said after the game. “Make sure tomorrow at practice we’re ready to go. It’s one game. We’ve got a long way to go. Focus on tomorrow’s practice and make sure our habits are good and we cover all the details we wants. I think it’s something to build on right now.”

Bruins captain Brad Marchand also brought up practice when asked how the team can build some momentum and pick up a few wins.

“Practice habits are where you develop all your game habits,” Marchand said after the game. “It’s such a cliché thing, but you practice how you play. When you practice poorly, you play poorly. When we compete in practice and are fast-paced and crisp and detailed, playing straight to the net and chipping pucks, that brings the game.It’s all momentum.

“You have a bad practice, that momentum carries into the game as well. You want to see it in the game, but I want to see it more in practice every day. That’s where you build your consistency and your competition. You build it into practice, you show it in games.”

The upcoming schedule should help the Bruins pick up some much-needed points in the standings.

The next eight games are all against teams outside of a playoff spot right now, and five of those games are at home. This is an important stretch for the Bruins to build good habits, keep improving in areas like special teams and 5-on-5 scoring, and get their season back on track.

Although the Bruins have played well below expectations thus far, they are still tied with the Buffalo Sabers for the second wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 61 games to play.

This win over Utah was a step in the right direction. Keeping the momentum going is the next challenge.