November Wrap-up

In my last monthly wrap-up post, I looked ahead to November, and projected the Bruins to finish the grueling month with 31 points, thereby earning 18 points out of the month's possible 26. Instead, the Bruins decided they'd go 11-1-1 and earn 23 out of the possible 26. Yikes.

The roll that this team went on in November is, to put it in a word, astounding. The team lost ONE GAME in regulation, a bit of a stinker last week in Buffalo, and ONE in a shootout, a game they, by all accounts, should have won against the Rangers.

The team is clicking on all cylinders right now, playing defense, scoring, passing, hitting...you name it, the boys in Black and Gold are doing it. Here are some stats from the past month:

Goals For: 53
Goals Against: 25 (including shootout)
Goals For Per Game: 4.08
Goals Against Per Game: 1.92

Here are some stats for the team, and their league rank in parentheses, as of December 1:

Wins: 16 (2nd)
PK: 82.3 % (15th)
Power Play: 23% (4th)
Total Goals For: 80 (t-2nd)
Total Goals Against: 51 (2nd)

The stat here that stands out the most has to be the penalty-kill. The Bruins were languishing at the bottom of the league in that department towards the end of October, killing penalties at an embarrassing 70-75% rate. However, they've gone on a penalty-killing tear lately, and have risen to the middle of the league in that ever-important category.

Basically, to put it in plain words, the Bruins really couldn't have asked for a better November. To make things better, they have a decently favorable December, giving the team a chance to keep on rolling and packing on the points.

DECEMBER AT A GLANCE:

Games: 13 (4 home, 9 road)

Key games: 12/10 at Washington, 12/30 at Pittsburgh

Like last month, there are 26 points up for grabs this month. Like last month, I expect the Bruins to pick up the majority of them. I do think the injuries to Andrew Ference and more recently Aaron Ward may start to hurt this team, but not in a huge way. Matt Hunwick has already filled in nicely, and I expect to see an appearance by Matt Lashoff or Johnny Boychuk in Tampa on Thursday, as reports are already saying Ward won't be making the trip. I'm predicting the Bruins to pick up 19 points in December, cooling off slightly but maintaining a great point-accumulating clip. I'm seeing a record of 8-2-3, thinking the losses would be to Washington and either Pittsburgh or Carolina, and at least one of the OTL's against Atlanta in a back-to-back home-and-home series. It's just hard to beat the same team back-to-back nights in this league. 19 points would give this team 55 points at the end of December with over three full months left to play, putting them on a torrid pace. The B's are likely to cool down at some point, but let's hope it's not for a while.

Go B's.