BOSTON — The Bruins’ line of Patrice Bergeron, Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand was the club’s best for much of the regular season. However, since the playoffs began, that trio has gone cold.
And as the Bruins find themselves heading to Game 6 in Toronto on Sunday night, it’s about time that line gets heated up again. If they don’t, it could be a big reason the B’s have to worry about seeing their 3-1 series lead evaporate.
The Bergeron line was held off the score sheet yet again on Friday night, and the numbers are starting to paint a pretty unsightly picture. The trio has just one goal and two assists, and all three have been on the ice for a Bruins goal just once in the entire series. That came in Game 2 when Marchand got the secondary assist on Johnny Boychuk‘s goal.
The frustration is starting to set in, and after another game of missed chances, head coach Claude Julien is calling on more out of that line.
“They know we do [need them to step up],” Julien said after the game. “That has to come for us to be successful. Starting next game, it’s called accountability. We have to more of that from that line as far as being a difference-maker or at least something positive and they gotta give us something.
“Like I thought the [Chris] Kelly line was really good [Friday night]. [David] Krejci‘s line has carried us and obviously [Gregory] Campbell‘s line did their job. If we can get those guys going, it would really help our team a lot.”
Luckily for the Bruins and the Bergeron line, the Bruins have gotten by without much of anything from that second line. The Krejci line has been fantastic, and they were on the ice once again in Game 5 for the Bruins’ lone tally. But it’s obviously going to take more out of everyone else — especially the Bergeron line — for the Bruins to put things away.
“Everyone else needs to step up and start contributing,” Marchand, the team’s leading goal-scorer in the regular season, said. “We can’t rely on them every single game to get all of our goals. We got to dig down deep and have a much better game.”
To their defense, however, the Bergeron line has been saddled with some pretty important defensive assignments. They’ve been called upon to slow down a very dangerous top six, and for the most part, they’ve done their job there.
“You want to contribute every night, but that’s not how it works,” Marchand said. “Even if you’re not scoring you have to do other things well. I got to do something to turn that around and get on the scoreboard.”
At some point, though, they’re going to need to break through. Whether or not the Bruins can advance without much of anything from that line is one thing, but it’s going to be very unlikely they go much farther without them.
