Bruins Notes: Boston Updating Mindset To Fit NHL Trend

BOSTON — The Bruins made the folks at TD Garden extremely happy on Saturday.

Yes, they won, but they also did it following the directions of nearly 18,000 fans screaming the same thing in unison.

“Shoot!”

The B’s finally returned to a shot-first mentality in their win over the New York Rangers on Saturday. They scored six goals, primarily due to pressure from aggressive defensemen.

Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, he just pushed his point across.

“It’s about having more and more attention to detail within our structure — that was more important,” Sacco said postgame. “I thought that overall, our structure didn’t change much, but in the offensive zone we wanted to be a little bit more connected, especially with our third forward on the strong side of the puck, which I thought we did. We played off the shot a little bit more. (Andrew) Peeke shoots off the shot there, Charlie (Coyle) gets it to the net front. We have to score more goals like that in this league. That’s how goals are scored.”

Charlie McAvoy was the only blueliner to cash in on the afternoon, but Peeke, Mason Lohrei, Brandon Carlo and even Nikita Zadorov made a point to initiate the offense.

“We’ve been talking about shooting the puck more,” McAvoy said postgame. “I try to have that focus. When it’s your turn to shoot, you just got to shoot… I know when I had looks, I was just shooting. You’re not trying to overthink too much, but when there are chances to find those plays, to (David Pastrnak) or anyone — I see them, I’ll make them. We’re a simple team, and we need to play a simple brand, so shooting is never a bad play.”

Bruins-Rangers produced some other noteworthy items on Saturday:

— Pastrnak has impeccable timing, following up a league-wide honor by scoring his first hat trick in almost a full calendar year.

The Bruins also shared that he became just the 10th player in franchise history to register 15 four-point games.

— Boston’s response to scoring could be better, as the club let up its fifth goal in the last week that came within two minutes of scoring.

— J.T. Miller was re-acquired by the Rangers on Friday, returning to his former club in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks. New York won’t be happy with the loss but likely enjoyed seeing him jump back into the fold with a two-goal performance.

— The Bruins will stay at home Tuesday, as they’re scheduled to take on the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden. It’ll be the first matchup between the two sides this season, with things scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.