The Boston Bruins wrapped up their round-robin schedule with another loss, falling 2-1 to the Washington Capitals.
Here are a few thoughts, observations and takeaways from Sunday’s game.
— Judging by Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy’s comments following the game, it doesn’t sound like Jeremy Lauzon’s spot in the lineup is set in stone.
Make no mistake, Lauzon is the frontrunner for the third pairing right side role. But the Bruins have solid defensive depth in John Moore and Connor Clifton, the latter of whom logged over 15 minutes of ice time Sunday.
“We’ll look at it closer, but yeah, Cliffy is a guy that is not afraid of the moment. It keeps lefty, righty,” Cassidy said following the loss on a Zoom call. “It’s a smaller pair with him and (Matt Grzelcyk) but we saw it last year. It played well at times against good teams so we are certainly not afraid of that look. We can certainly move people around to balance the size aspect. I guess to answer your question, I don’t know yet if it’s going to be Lauzon, Clifton — Johnny Moore is another guy that we know can play. We looked for the balance in size with the Griz with the Lauzon pairing. I think Jeremy has been OK, but like when he first came to us, some repetitions for the bigger guy take time. So do we have that luxury or not? We’ll have to make that decision in the next few days.”
— The power play is becoming something of an issue. After cashing in on a quarter of their man-advantage opportunities in the regular season — which was good for second best in the league — the Bruins went scoreless on all nine of their opportunities in the round-robin.
It’s a tough unit to assess. It’s not like 2011 when the power-play just looked outright lost. The Bruins had some decent advantages where the opposing goalie played well or they just couldn’t get as good of a look as they needed to. In other words, it’s not simply a waste of two minutes every time the opposition gets a penalty.
It appears those struggles aren’t lost on Cassidy though, who put Charlie Coyle in Jake DeBrusk’s spot on the top power-play unit. The Carolina Hurricanes, who Boston will play in the first round, had the fourth-best penalty kill in the NHL, so the Bruins aren’t going to have much room to stumble with the extra man.
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— DeBrusk had the only goal for the Bruins on Sunday, but even he admitted he didn’t like how he played against the Capitals. That’s the continuation of what’s been a troubling season for the young winger, who has gone through a number of growing pains.
That begs the question: How long is his leash? The Bruins have forward depth that Cassidy could use if DeBrusk simply can’t figure it out. Karson Kuhlman could play as a second-line wing, as could Jack Studnicka, though the former is more likely. Maybe Sean Kuraly goes to the third line left wing, Anders Bjork goes up and Par Lindholm centers the fourth line. There are options.
Maybe it’s a reach to think DeBrusk would be healthy scratched in the playoffs, but if he looks lost, there might not be anything Cassidy can do other than make him a spectator. That said, the Bruins certainly benefit from getting the best version of DeBrusk on that second line, so there’s reason to believe they’ll be semi-patient and keep trotting him out.
— Cassidy had an interesting comment about the top line’s scoring woes following the game.
Save for a Patrice Bergeron secondary assist, the top line went scoreless during the round-robin tournament. The last time that group went silent in the postseason was the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, and we all know how that finished.
But Cassidy sounds optimistic that unit will figure it out.
“You look at our top line, they’ve been held off the scoresheet,” Cassidy said. “And I believe that it’s going to be a tough task for Carolina to do that on a consistent basis. I think that those guys will be able to get their game going. But we’re going to need that primary scoring for one. Maybe some of that will come to life on the power play.”
Maybe they will. A Carolina team that had arguably better defensive personnel available last season allowed a combined 14 points to Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak in four games last postseason. So, there’s that.
— It appears Charlie McAvoy has taken the message to shoot more to heart.
The top-pairing blueliner has a nice shooting touch when he uses it, which can make it perplexing when he elects to pass up good shot opportunities. For some time now, the coaching staff has harped on the desire for McAvoy to pull the trigger more, and he did that in the round-robin.
McAvoy had four shots on net against the Lightning, which would’ve been a share for second-most in a game this season for him. He had a pair against the Flyers and three against the Caps.
Though McAvoy only had one goal to show for it, him shooting more opens up more opportunities for his teammates, especially since he skates so much at the same time as Boston’s top line. Plus, it gives Boston a very different type of offensive weapon from the blue line on each defensive pairing.
