Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

NHL Push for the Playoffs: Bruins’ offense goes cold without Pastrnak, Lindholm

nhl push for the playoffs

Boston - April 2: Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) flips a puck to fans during pregame warmups. The Boston Bruins host the Columbus Blue Jackets in an NHL game in Boston on April 2, 2022. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Boston Globe via Getty Images

Push for the Playoffs will run every morning through the end of the 2021-22 NHL season. We’ll highlight the current playoff picture in both conferences, take a look at what the first-round matchups might look like, see who’s leading the race for the best odds in the draft lottery and more.

In early April the Boston Bruins were the NHL’s hottest team and looked to have everything clicking in perfect harmony. On April 4 they defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2, in overtime to improve to 17-4-1 over a 22-game stretch. They were rapidly climbing the standings and looked like they were establishing themselves as Stanley Cup contenders in the Eastern Conference.

That game against Columbus was the last time David Pastrnak played.

The next game defenseman Hampus Lindholm, a key trade deadline acquisition for them, was injured. He has not played since.

Without those two players Boston has managed just a 3-5-0 record in the eight games that followed, with only one of those wins (a 2-1 win against Pittsburgh this past weekend) coming in regulation.

Even worse: The offense has gone ice cold, scoring just 16 goals in the eight games. That is a two-goal game per game average, while they scored more than three goals in exactly zero of those games. On Thursday, they were shutout (granted, on 52 shots on goal) in a 4-0 loss to Casey DeSmith and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Part of the problem is the Bruins have typically been a very top-heavy team offensively in recent years with a large portion of their goals coming from the trio of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and Pastrnak. Take one of them away, and the offense takes a significant hit.

But there has also been an element of bad luck and poorly time cold streaks.

Marchand, for example, has been held without a goal over the past eight games despite registering 33 shots on goal. Taylor Hall and Craig Smith have combined for one goal between the two of them on 37 shots. That means Marchand, Hall, and Smith (three pretty important players for the Bruins offense) have combined for one goal on 70 shots over the past eight games. That is astonishingly unlucky. Given their normal shooting percentages you would expect that trio to combine for 8-9 goals on that same number of shots. An additional 8-9 goals over that stretch would be fairly significant for the Bruins.

The good news is Pastrnak and Lindholm are nearing returns -- perhaps this weekend -- and should give the offense a much-needed lift. In the short-term, the Bruins managed to get through that tough stretch without them and are three points back of Tampa Bay for a top-three spot in the Atlantic Division.

IF PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY (sorted by points percentage)

ATLANTIC DIVISION
Panthers vs. Capitals
Maple Leafs vs. Lightning

METROPOLITAN DIVISION
Hurricanes vs. Bruins
Rangers vs. Penguins

CENTRAL DIVISION
Avalanche vs. Stars
Wild vs. Blues

PACIFIC DIVISION
Flames vs. Predators
Oilers vs. Kings

TODAY’S KEY GAMES

Avalanche vs. Oilers, 9 p.m. ET
Capitals vs. Coyotes, 10:30 p.m. ET

Screen Shot 2022-04-22 at 9.20.10 AM

PLAYOFF PERCENTAGES (via MoneyPuck)

Panthers - clinched No. 1 seed in Eastern Conference
Maple Leafs - clinched
Lightning - clinched
Bruins - clinched
Red Wings - eliminated
Sabres - eliminated
Senators - eliminated
Canadiens - eliminated

Screen Shot 2022-04-22 at 9.20.03 AM

PLAYOFF PERCENTAGES (via MoneyPuck)

Hurricanes - clinched
Rangers - clinched
Penguins - clinched
Capitals - clinched
Islanders - eliminated
Blue Jackets - eliminated
Flyers - eliminated
Devils - eliminated

Screen Shot 2022-04-22 at 9.20.17 AM

PLAYOFF PERCENTAGES (via MoneyPuck)

Avalanche - clinched No. 1 seed in Western Conference
Wild - clinched
Blues - clinched
Predators - 97.2%
Stars - 72.8%
Jets - eliminated
Blackhawks - eliminated
Coyotes - eliminated

Screen Shot 2022-04-22 at 9.20.23 AM

PLAYOFF PERCENTAGES (via MoneyPuck)

Flames - clinched Pacific Division
Oilers - 100%
Kings - 96.5%
Golden Knights - 31.9%
Canucks - 1.7%
Ducks - eliminated
Sharks - eliminated
Kraken - eliminated

draft lottery

Getty Images

NHLI via Getty Images

DRAFT LOTTERY PICTURE (via Tankathon)

18.5% - Coyotes
13.5% - Canadiens
11.5% - Flyers
9.5% - Kraken
8.5% - Devils
7.5% - Blackhawks (*conditional)
6.5% - Senators
6.0% - Red Wings
5.0% - Sabres
3.5% - Sharks
3.0% - Ducks
2.5% - Blue Jackets
2.0% - Jets
1.5% - Islanders
0.5% - Canucks
0.5% - Golden Knights (*conditional)

“Beginning this season there will be a limit on the total number of selections (10) a team participating in the lottery can move up in the event it wins one of the lottery draws, a change announced by the NHL on March 23, 2021. Only the top 11 seeds will be eligible to receive the No. 1 selection in the 2022 draft.”

The 2022 NHL Draft Lottery drawing will be held May 10

ART ROSS TROPHY RACE

Connor McDavid, 113 points
Jonathan Huberdeau, 113 points
Johnny Gaudreau, 109 points
Leon Draisaitl, 106 points
Auston Matthews, 102 points
Matthew Tkachuk, 100 points

ROCKET RICHARD RACE

Auston Matthews, 58 goals
Leon Draisaitl, 54 goals
Chris Kreider, 51 goals
Alex Ovechkin, 50 goals
Kirill Kaprizov, 44 goals
Kyle Connor, 44 goals