One area that has suffered during the Bruins' win streak is the power play. Since Nov. 6 - a span of nine games - Boston is 1 for 28 (0.04%) on the man advantage, and is 0 for its last 16. They have not scored a power-play goal since David Pastrnak's tally on Nov. 10 in Toronto.
The stiff drop-off is, no doubt, partly a product of the B's injury woes, which have forced both units into flux. Nonetheless, it has been an unseemly descent. After sitting in the top five in the league for much of the first month-plus, Boston has plummeted to 19th in the league on the power play (18.3%).
Cassidy believes his team's biggest problem has been an attempt to be too perfect.
"Our entries have been cleaned up, we're getting in. We had some dysfunction there for a while with the different guys in and out," said Cassidy. "I do think there's some rhythm on our entries, some chemistry. In zone, I don't think we're putting enough pucks at the net. We're overlooking shots, looking for a perfect play. Right now, it's not clicking, and if it does we're not finishing."
During Saturday's practice, the first unit consisted of Torey Krug at the point, with Patrice Bergeron as the bumper, Jake DeBrusk as the net-front, and David Pastrnak and Danton Heinen as the flanks. The second unit had Charlie McAvoy at the point, Frank Vatrano as the bumper, Jordan Szwarz as the net-front, and David Krejci and Zdeno Chara on the flanks.