Ryan: With health finally on their side, Bruins running out of in-house solutions for 5v5 scoring woes

It could have been easy to find the silver lining in the immediate aftermath of Boston’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Canadiens at TD Garden.

While Jeff Petry’s backhand swing knocked a game-winning tally past Tuukka Rask just 15 seconds into the extra stanza, Boston could at least slump into the locker room knowing it snared another point in the standings — moving the B’s just a point behind the Maple Leafs for second place in the Atlantic.

And while one point can be a hard pill to swallow when it’s doled out at the hands of your archrival, the Bruins certainly didn’t make it easy on Carey Price during Monday’s contest, firing 43 pucks against the Habs netminder and finishing with a plus-22 shot differential in the loss.

For the second time in three games, the Bruins' offense had managed to pepper the opposing net while limiting sustained pressure down the other end of the ice — with Boston also outshooting the Capitals, 41-22, on Thursday night at the Garden.

And yet, as has been the case for most of the season — the results have fallen far short of what the other stats might tell.

Since the start of December, the Bruins have managed to outshoot the competition in 5v5 play in 12 matchups.

Their record in those games? 6-5-1. Their record in which those 5v5 shot totals are either tied or flipped in favor of the opposition? 6-3.

And in those nine games where Boston was either even or on the wrong side of 5v5 shots, it should come as no surprise that a power play ranked third in the league (27.9 percent) played a big role in keeping the club afloat — with 11 of Boston’s 33 goals scored during that stretch coming during 5v4 play.

It’s been the same old song and dance when it comes to the Bruins and their stalled offense. For as much as Boston can tilt shot totals in its favor and possess the puck, the club simply isn’t creating enough during 5v5 play.

Currently, Boston sits 18th overall with 132 goals on the season. However, when you limit that to tallies during 5v5 action, the Bruins drop all the way to 28th in the league with just 77 goals. The only clubs behind them? The sinking Ducks (75) and the cellar-dwelling Kings (72) and the Coyotes (69).

That’s startling for a club still sitting just a point out of second place in the cutthroat Atlantic Division — and a testament to a team that has relied on its power play to generate 28.7 percent of their total goals.

Even now, with Boston rolling with a 9-3-1 record in its last 13 games and boasting a roster largely healthy for the first time all season — those scoring woes haven’t subsided. Of course, it doesn’t help when you only have one reliable line creating offense during 5v5 play.

The Bruins have shuffled their lineup at a near-constant pace this season, but have still managed to roll out eight different forward lines that have logged at least 50 minutes of 5v5 ice time this season. Of those trios, only one — Boston’s top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak — have managed to tally 10 or more goals.

The next closest lineup had nine 5v5 goals, and wouldn’t you know it — that line had most of the same personnel, with David Krejci slotting in between Pastrnak and Marchand.

While Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak and Krejci can all largely be counted on to generate offense at 5v5 play, the remaining forwards have struggled when it comes to creating consistent production in that area.

In total, those seven six Bruins forward lines with 50+ minutes of 5v5 ice time together have only generated 23 goals — while surrendering 20 goals down the other end. In fact, those 23 5v5 goals generated by the rest of Boston’s most-used lines are actually less than what both the 63-37-88 and 63-46-88 lines have generated together (25 goals). That’s a big problem.

Sure, Boston landed 43 shots on goal against Carey Price on Monday, but Boston still only managed to light lamp off of a Marchand laser during 4v4 play and a power-play snipe from Krejci in the final minute of regulation.

For most of the night, Cassidy put his second and third lines in a blender in order to find a spark — primarily slotting Krejci in between Jake DeBrusk (11:25 TOI together) and Ryan Donato (8:28 TOI), while Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson earned most of his reps alongside David Backes and Danton Heinen.

Cassidy’s latest lineup shuffle seemed to give Boston a bit of a jump — with Boston holding an 8-3 edge in scoring chances during the time both Krejci and Donato were out on the ice. But still, these two reshaped lines still had zero tangible goals to show for it.

“We played two of the top goaltenders in the league with (Braden) Holtby and with Price,” Donato said of Boston’s last two losses against Washington and Montreal. "Those guys are good at what they do and they’re good at protecting a lead, those goalies are.  But at the end of the day we got to find a way to put one in, maybe two in. We had some grade-A chances, it’s all about working through that and sometimes you can get snaked in as a team and I think we just gotta keep pushing through and eventually it will come.”

That’s the hope for now when it comes to the Bruins and their 5v5 issues — persistence and patience. But with these problems still lingering even with a clean bill of health, it’s starting to feel more and more like a solution can only come from outside of this current roster.