Matt Beleskey, Jimmy Hayes and an epically bad start
The Boston Bruins are off to a 4-4-0 start, which isn’t all that bad considering Tuukka Rask missed a few of them.
That 2.25 goals-per-game average, fourth-lowest in the NHL, could be a bit higher, though. Which brings us to Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes.
There are bad starts to the season, and then there are Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes. They’re both pointless this season. They’re both a minus-7. In Beleskey’s case, there isn’t another forward in the NHL this season (with at least five games played) who is over 15 minutes a game in ice time (15:43) and has yet to register a point.
The current iteration of the third line, Matt Beleskey, Riley Nash, and Jimmy Hayes, have not accounted for a single point in seven games played. Even more alarming is the lack of any sustained attack and not having the puck enough. The wings might be better served with the offensively-gifted Ryan Spooner as their pivot. Because the unit is just not working well right now.
Here’s a visual representation from Corsica. The more red the circle, the worse the Corsi percentage:
And Jimmy Hayes is a strawberry so far: 44.85 percent Corsi (score and zone adjusted). Beleskey is at 47.74. In fairness, Hayes was a possession drag last season too: 46.59 Corsi percentage. Beleskey was over 51-percent last season, but then again he spent most of his time skating with David Krejci and Loui Eriksson, so that’s expected. He also played a bunch with Ryan Spooner last season.
Which is sort of the problem now: Eriksson is (struggling) in Vancouver, while Krejci and Spooner are finding some nascent chemistry with each other on the Bruins’ second line with Ryan Spooner with Austin Czarnik. And obviously Beleskey’s not getting a shot with Patrice Bergeron.
He had five points, including two goals, in his first eight games last season, for comparison’s sake. On fewer shots (9) that he’s taken this season (11).
The good news for the Bruins is that their first line remains dynamic and the second line is starting to figure things out. The bad news is the third line is zeroes across the board. So how do they get them going?
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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