Sacco’s Secret Sauce: Bruins Players Reveals the Coach’s Formula for Success

In the month since Joe Sacco replaced Jim Montgomery as the Boston Bruins’ head coach, the Bruins have been one of the best teams in the entire NHL. In the 15 games since Nov. 19, they are the third-best team with a 10-4-1 record, including a 7-2-1 record in their last ten games. While there have been some blips on the record – a blowout loss to the Winnipeg Jets and a 5-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken – Boston’s overall game has improved in most assets. Scoring is up slightly, defense has taken some positive strides and the special teams have looked better, with some struggles in the mix too.

A big reason for the strong record as of late has been the improvement of some key players – producing and contributing more to the lineup as opposed to the pre-Sacco era.

Brad Marchand

Captains lead and Brad Marchand has put the team on his back and led them to this winning record under Sacco. In 15 games, he has scored nine goals (leading the team) and is second on the team in points in the same time span with 14. He is in the midst of a nine-game point streak, the sixth-longest of any player so far this season and one of the longest ones of his career. Eight of his nine goals during this stretch have been at even-strength, two were game-winning goals and he is shooting at an incredible 20.9%.

On a roster grasping for any breath of offense in their lineup, Marchand has caught fire, keeping the Bruins alive in close games and giving them a spark to win consistently. Playing on a line with Elias Lindholm and now Charlie Coyle on the wing, he is also adding some depth offense beyond David Pastrnak, which is another layer of success for the Bruins. Of course, there have been some struggles with the power play, but for a team that was scoring a league-worst number of goals, they’ll take anything at this point.

Marchand, 36, is in the final year of his current contract which was feeding into some potential trade rumors to circulate while Boston was teetering around the .500 mark. Now that he and the Bruins have picked their collective game up, those rumors have cooled a bit, but it does provide an interesting conversation around Marchand’s next deal – if he does re-sign with Boston – and what it looks like. If he continues on this current 33-goal, 63-point pace, that extension will serve him good, proving he’s still a viable player even in the later years of his career.

Morgan Geekie

Coming off a career season that saw him nearly post 40 points, Morgan Geekie’s start to the season was quite disappointing. He was often struggling to not only bury chances, but create them in the first place. Oftentimes he seemed to lazily float around the ice and lacked any sense of drive in his game. That has been flipped upside down in the last 15 games as Geekie is the third-leading scorer on the Bruins in that span with six goals and nine points.

In his last ten games specifically, the 26-year-old forward has five goals and three assists for eight points with two of those five goals being game-winners, most recently scoring late in regulation to lead the Bruins to a 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Geekie’s play has been a bonus, but he’s also been solid defensively too, sitting as the sixth-best Bruin in expected goals against per 60.

Similarly to Marchand, Geekie is on an expiring contract this offseason, but at 26, his strong play improvement may earn him a raise from the current $2 million salary he’s making now. As it stands, Geekie is on pace to score more goals than he did last season – an already high for his career to date. Seeing his game from the first month-and-a-half of the season to now is a major jump, giving Boston some help in the top-six. Ideally, Geekie is more of a third-line player scoring at this rate, but given the newfound chemistry with Pastrnak, he will be a fine suitor on the top line as of now.

David Pastrnak

While both Marchand and Geekie have looked excellent since mid-November, Pastrnak still leads the team in points and assists in the same time, scoring 18 points in 15 games and having the same amount of assists as the next leading scorer has points. Unfortunately for Boston, his well-known goal-scoring talents have taken a back step through three months. In 35 games, the Czech forward has only 12 goals which puts him on a 28-goal pace for an 82-game season. That would be the lowest total of his career with a minimum of 70 games played.

Visually, there are concerns about a potential injury as Pastrnak seems to miss more shots than he normally does, shooting at an abnormally low 8.6% which is by far the lowest of his career. Earlier in the month, there was some concern about Pastrnak missing some games due to an injury, but he ended up playing in every game, leading to the belief that he’s nursing some sort of ailment.

All that said, he is still very much contributing to the team, as he’s currently on pace for 54 assists – the second-highest single-season total, behind only his 63-assist campaign in 2023-24. His playmaking has been on point since Montgomery was fired, a huge reason why Geekie and Pavel Zacha have seen increases in production themselves – because Pastrnak has been finding them the puck. Boston would prefer him to score more goals as they’re paying him the most of any other Bruin, but having a 1.20 points-per-game average in his last 15 games shows even in a down season, he’s a massive asset to Boston and arguably once again the most valuable player on the team.

Being such a prolific goal scorer like he is, Pastrnak can very well find himself on a goal streak later on in the season which may push his goal pace to being higher. Regardless, though, as long as he is bettering the players around him, the Bruins will find ways to win hockey games. As he evolves his all-around game, his playmaking skills are also evolving and it is strong evidence that he can produce in more ways than just slamming one-timers on the power play.

Joonas Korpisalo

Coming into the season with some of the least expectations of any Bruin, Joonas Korpisalo has been a blessing in disguise – especially with starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman having a tough go of it heading into the Christmas break. Since Sacco took the reins as interim head coach, Korpisalo has started in five games, having a 4-1-0 record with a 2.00 goals-against average (GAA) and a .910 save percentage (SV%) to go along with a shutout.

Korpisalo has had very few poor outings, looking quite calm in his games and unlike Swayman so far, has been able to win games for Boston or at the very least, give them an excellent chance at winning. On the season, he is boasting a .904 SV% and a 2.42 GAA with two shutouts – all leading the team and significantly better than his last season with the Ottawa Senators in 2023-24.

Having such strong performances has led some fans to want Korpisalo to split more of the starts with Swayman than he is. Is he good enough to be a full-time starting goaltender? Probably not, but with Swayman clearly having issues finding his game that earned him his massive eight-year extension, Korpisalo may be the best option to give Boston some big wins at this point of the season, while also taking pressure off of Swayman to be that main guy.

Being able to switch a negative narrative before he even played a single minute wearing the Spoked-B to having fans wanting a more evenly split tandem is a testament to how well the Finnish goalie has been playing not only under Sacco, but all season long. If it continues, Sacco may just have to budge and give more of the starting minutes to Korpisalo, but as it stands, Swayman will likely get the majority of them.

Bruins in Decent Shape

Watching the Bruins all season has felt like a loopy rollercoaster with many ups and downs, but there is no denying that the uptick in drive and motivation has been visually evident. Players all around the lineup have been playing with more purpose and reason to win. There are still many issues and this team is far from perfect, but having clear improvements is a sign they are not going out without a fight and will be there at the very end, fighting for a playoff spot in the tightly-competitive Eastern Conference.