Even the best line in hockey needs an occasional refresher on what it takes to be successful.
The Boston Bruins are returning to the Stanley Cup Final after blanking the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday night. The B’s received a huge performance from their top line of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand, as the trio combined to score all four goals in the decisive contest.
It was a bounce-back effort of sorts for the Bergeron line after mostly being held quiet in Game 3. Marchand potted a power-play goal in that contest, but that came with an entirely different unit, and when the three were skating together, they mostly were invisible.
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy knew that wasn’t going to last, but he also knew — as is the case from time to time — that Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak needed a little reminder on what they should be doing. Bruins assistant coaches Jay Pandolfo and Joe Sacco had a video session with the line during the club’s off-day Wednesday to reinforce the good efforts.
“They weren’t very good in Game 3 and they acknowledged it,” Cassidy said after Thursday’s series-clinching win. “Jay and Joe will usually sit them down and go through some shifts with them when they start to look out of sync because they have such good chemistry. That’s when we usually know that they need to dial it back in — when they’re out of sorts in the neutral zone, not making plays to each other, not supporting the puck — it turns into almost three individuals as opposed to a line.”
Interestingly, the get-together spent some time focusing on the work of the Bruins’ fourth line, whose effort was among the biggest reasons Boston buried Carolina.
“They sat down (Wednesday) before practice and kind of sorted through some of the stuff the (Sean) Kuraly line had done well against this team,” Cassidy explained. “They press up a lot. Their (defensemen) want to be in your face, so you have to play behind them and skate on the pucks. If you get stubborn and don’t do that, start playing east-west, they reload so well. They’ve got good sticks, and you have no success and spend all day in your end. I think they did a good job with that.
“Yesterday kind of got that all out there, and today … they generally bounce back after that kind of, I don’t know if you want to call them tutorials because these are three elite players and I don’t know how much we’re teaching them. It’s more about reminding them what’s made them successful.”
The Bruins now have at least a week before the Stanley Cup Final, meaning the Bergeron line and the rest of the Black and Gold should have plenty of time for more of those reminders before tangling with either the San Jose Sharks or St. Louis Blues.
