Your Power City Bruins travel to the East Aurora Beast on Sunday morning at 9am in an important blue division game. Last season the Bruins left this game with a spirited 4-2 victory.
By points percentage (.600), the Bruins currently sit third coming off a 5-4 road victory over the top seeded Rochester Jr. Americans. The Beast sit directly behind the Bruins with a .571 points percentage after defeating the Amherst Knights on Saturday, 3-2. Only the Amerks and the second seeded Knights are ahead of both.
In order to stay hot on the road, the Bruins need to transfer their practice work to games in a few key areas:
You're (not) killing me, Smalls! - The Power City penalty kill sits at 81.6% (62/76) on the season - pretty good, until you look at the last 11 games. During that stretch the Bruins are down to 64.5%(20/31) - yes, there is a tournament in there at a higher age group, however of the eleven goals against - only four came in those four games. Setting those aside the Bruins are still giving up a power play goal per game on average.
A big reason for that is second chance opportunities. Bruins goaltenders RJ Turner and Cody Schoen are often making the first save. The Bruins have struggled to clear out the front of the net and eliminate those opportunities, something the coaching staff has pushed in recent practices.
Power Outage: as is the case with the penalty kill, the Bruins power play has also faltered in that same eleven game stretch. Running 14.9% (11/74) on the season is good - but 10.3% (3/29) during that stretch is not.
The Bruins have spent plenty of practice time on puck movement and getting it to the front of the net for opportunities, and the Beast are a possible get-right game in that regard. The Bruins should have their chances with the man advantage as East Aurora leads the division in average PIM per game at 13.8. Buy contrast the Bruins average 9.04 PIM per game. Those extra opportunities could easily be the difference in the game.
Are We Friends?: The puck moves faster than the players - crisp, quick, and efficient passing is critical to offensive success. The Bruins have scored 107 goals on the season - and 103 assists. With secondary assists included in that number, it's fair to wonder about the Bruins puck movement (see power play production). The offensive production will rise as the team grows to lean on each other on the attack.
Stay Hot, Kid: It's easy to look at top producers as being important to a game. Hayden Hockaday leads the Bruins with 27 goals and 36 points, and AJ McCune is also averaging a point per game with 32 in 29 games. Carter Winiarski has five goals in his last five games.
It's contributions throughout the lineup that will be important for the Bruins to carry success through the playoffs. Aidan Loncar continues to bring speed to the forward group and is fourth on the team in total points with 18. Defenseman Jake Nobel has caught fire with three assists and a +6 in his last five games.
Massive to the success of the Bruins going forward will be the resurgence of forward Chase Newell. With 7 points in 29 games, Newell hasn't seen point production from last season carry over, however he is coming off arguably his best game of the season against the division leading Amerks. Newell was a MENACE with six hits, an assist, and a strong forecheck presence in response to being challenged by the coaching staff.
Newell had significant success last year on the power play tipping pucks from the point, and he does run on a power play unit with both Hayden and Brody Hockaday. The more he battles in front of the net and creates space for the puck to move freely, the better off the Bruins are. Look for Newell to play a big role tomorrow against East Aurora.