TLDR: The Boston Bruins are a statistical anomaly
by FiveThirtyEight (these highlights provided for you by Annotote)
“ Boston does the little things well. It currently leads the NHL in … possession metrics … ranks third in faceoff win percentage [and its] penalty killing unit is nearly impenetrable (its 86.6 kill percentage is second only to that of the Carolina Hurricanes), and its 34.1 shots per game is second in the league … But despite all that, the Bruins are in serious danger of missing the playoffs. Again.
“ the Bruins take 7.4 more shots per game than their opponents — the largest margin in the league — and yet they’re still getting outscored 2.54 goals per game to 2.42.
“ [The Bruins were hurt by] losing Loui Eriksson (who scored the puck on an astounding 16.3% of the shots he took last season) to free agency
“ when Rask isn’t between the pipes, the Bruins might be the worst team in the league. “ only six players with plus-minus numbers in the black
“ Boston has only a 25% chance of making the playoffs. For the Bruins to get in, the Maple Leafs would have to dry up and crumble
