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If there was one thing for which you could count on from the Bruins over the last decade-plus before this season, it was that they would be good on faceoffs.
From the 2009-10 season through the record-breaking regular season of 2022-23, they had the highest faceoff win percentage of any team in the league, winning 52.7% of the draws over those 1,076 games.
It helped, of course, having one of the best – if not the best – faceoff men of his generation in Patrice Bergeron, who took a large chunk of those draws.
But with Bergeron now in retirement, the numbers have fallen off. Going into Thursday’s game against the Penguins, who owned the top spot this year with a 55.3% win rate, the B’s were in unfamiliarity territory, ranked 22nd in the league at 49.1%.
The good news is that their top two centers, Charlie Coyle (51.5%) and Pavel Zacha (52.5%) and rookie Johnny Beecher (54%) , set to return to the lineup on Thursday after a healthy scratch, are all above water.
But others have struggled. Matt Poitras (44%), Morgan Geekie (44.4%) and Trent Frederic (41.8%) were all in the red. In a very small sample size, Georgii Merkulov has won just six of 27 draws.
“Young players tend to struggle on the dot. Beech has been a pleasant surprise at that,” said coach Jim Montgomery, a centerman in his playing days. “But you just keep working on it…I know that (assistant coach) Chris Kelly was a great faceoff man. He works with them all the time about getting low and we continue to show Bergeron clips, because he was the best at it, and how he got low. But not everyone can win them the same. Bergeron just always won it on his backhand, got low and dominated the dot. You have to get over the top of the dot. But some people may not have the strength Bergeron had. So maybe you need to pick it with a stick and win it with your skate and those are things that you learn over time.”
The issue has been particularly pronounced in the last three games, all of which were otherwise solid wins. Against New Jersey, the B’s won just 27% of the draws as Devils’ center Michael McLeod dominated, winning 17 out of 20. In the victory in Detroit, they won just 32% and then in Columbus they were up to 40%.. As the final results show, bad faceoff numbers don’t always play out in the only score that matters. But it is better to start with the puck and a key faceoff win could change the game. In Detroit, Coyle won just four of 17, but one of those wins led to his third period goal off a set play that put the B’s in front for good.
Montgomery said it takes time for young players to learn the tricks of the trade.
“They’re used to just winning it on their hand-eye coordination and they get in the league and they’re going against men who’ve made a living at this for a long time,” said Montgomery. “An analogy to baseball would be that a guy comes up and he’s hit a lot of home runs in college baseball with an aluminum bat. Now he’s getting sawed off at the hands (on pitches) that used to go for a single. His bat’s broken in his hand. You’ve got to learn what pitchers are trying to do to you, how you can get around to winning faceoffs more regularly.”
And sometimes, said Montgomery, it just comes down to a bad matchup.
“If guys are strong and big, like a Joel Otto, that was hard,” said Montgomery, speaking from painful experience. “But sometimes when I went up against other guys who were big and strong but didn’t take them like Joel Otto, I had success, because I could get under their blade or whatever the case may be. But it’s more the matchups and size and strength. And then you’ve got the intelligence of certain players. Like Bergeron… sometimes he went down the shaft to win it, sometimes he won it with the heel. Other times he hit the other guy’s stick first. Those are all the things you learn and it all comes off the timing of the lineman’s hand. No linesman just drops the puck. As soon as his hand comes up, that’s when you make your move, that’s when you start to cheat.”…
Poitras was back at Warrior Ice Arena to take part in the optional morning skate. He was going to sit out Thursday’s game as his body got re-acclimated to the time change. When he returns to the lineup has not been determined yet, however.
Poitras’ Team Canada missed the medal round of the World Junior Championships when Czechia bounced Canada out in the quarterfinals. He’s hoping to use that disappointment as fuel.
“That loss definitely stings. That’s something I’ll look back on and you don’t want to feel like that again. It was a terrible feeling after that game, so yeah, I could definitely use that as motivation,” said Poitras.
Where exactly he plays when he gets back in the lineup remains to be seen. With Geekie moving to center and another pivot in Merkulov up with Boston, there has been some talk about him moving. Poitras would have no problem with that.
“I’m open to anything. I’ve played wing in the past. Wing is sometimes a little more simpler than center. I’m comfortable playing wherever,” said Poitras…
Derek Forbort, who has been out since December 3 with a groin injury, returned to the ice for the first time on Thursday, skating on his own with assistant John McLean. Montgomery said Forbort is now considered week-to-week.
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