For Bruins' next wave of talent, playoff hockey stands as an entirely different animal

For a player who's logged 230 career games up at the NHL level, Brandon Carlo has found himself in some uncharted territory this week.

A stalwart on Boston’s blue line for each of the past three seasons, the 22-year-old defenseman has unfortunately been on the outside looking in at the postseason in each of his first two full campaigns with the B’s — as a concussion in 2016-17 and an ankle fracture in 2017-18 put him on the shelf in the final days leading up to the playoffs.

The 6-foot-5 skater is no stranger when it comes to getting thrown into the fire once play gets underway — averaging close to 21 minutes of ice time a night and nearly three minutes of penalty-kill TOI while usually matched up against an opposing top-six forward crew.

But playoff hockey? Now that’s an entirely different animal.

“I just don’t want to overwhelm myself,” Carlo said Monday. “I feel like I had a solid year and stayed consistent throughout that. I just want to continue that play coming into the playoffs and do my job ultimately. Do everything I can help the team in the ways that I can. I understand the player that I am, more so, at this point now.”

While Carlo and newcomers like rookie Karson Kuhlman have yet to experience the physicality and intensity that comes with the territory every postseason, they have plenty of resources to turn to throughout the Bruins locker room. And not just the usual suspects like Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci (220 combined playoff games).



Over the last two seasons, Boston’s younger crop of skaters have become battle-tested for postseason play, with both Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy making their debuts as call-ups during an opening round against Ottawa in 2017, while Jake DeBrusk tallied six goals over 12 playoff matchups last spring.

Just wrapping up his second full year with Boston, the 22-year-old DeBrusk has found himself in a bit of an unlikely role — offering advice to Carlo, Kuhlman, Connor Clifton and more in the days leading up to Game 1 against Toronto on Thursday.

“It’s probably been a whirlwind getting called up and all that jazz,” DeBrusk told BostonSportsJournal about Kuhlman. “We had a little talk today and he asked me some questions. I feel like I’m old, but he’s older than me. But, no, I can’t wait to see what I’ve got and I think we work well off of each other.”

Even with just 11 games up at the NHL level, Kuhlman appears ready for the bright lights — ready or not — going into the series against the Leafs, as he skated with Boston’s top-six trio of DeBrusk and David Krejci during Monday’s morning skate.

The former Minnesota-Duluth product may not check off all of the boxes when it comes to experience, but when it comes to excelling during postseason play, tenure can sometimes take a backseat to emotion when it comes to tuning out the noise. 

“I wasn’t nervous at all actually before the game,” DeBrusk said of his playoff debut last April against Toronto. “I was just more so excited to get out there and play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs personally. But as soon as we went out after warm-ups and the fans were losing it with the towels, it’s what you dream about.

"As a young guy watching hockey, it’s why you love the game. Nerves start hitting you there. But I like that. I think that anytime you get some sort of emotion, I’m good at using it and I just remember being thrown into the fire. But I was down, I was ready to go. And do the best that I could. … I can’t wait to see those towels waving around, I think I’ll be flying out there, to say the least.”

Of course, every player approaches a game differently, but even someone as even-keel as Carlo knows that he’ll be tasked to hit the ice running (or skating?) as soon as the puck drops on Thursday. One of the key cogs on a Bruins D corps that has allowed the second-fewest 5v5 goals all season long, Carlo will be counted upon to neutralize a Leafs offense that actually tied a juggernaut of a Lightning club for the league lead with 206 5v5 goals tallied in 2018-19.

But Carlo’s lockdown numbers during 1,255 minutes of 5v5 TOI this year — 49.17 5v5 shot attempts surrendered per 60 minutes and 1.48 5v5 goals allowed per 60 minutes,  both tops among Bruins defenseman that has played in at least 20 games — will give Boston quite the in-house lift after having to soldier on without No. 25 over the previous two campaigns.

“What do we miss? Usually, it starts with the PK and one of his biggest strengths as a shutdown defenseman,” Bruce Cassidy said of what Carlo will provide to this club in the postseason. "And that’s what we missed last year at times against Toronto as well. But specifically, Tampa. They rolled over a pretty deep forward group.

“So you have that big body that can defend well and skate. He adds some puck play, that’s part of the game where he’s still building his game, so some of that is replaceable. But the size factor, the ability to play 20-22 reliable minutes is probably the biggest thing you miss that time of year. Especially when you get into extended overtimes, he’s a guy that can handle that workload.”

As expected, most of Boston’s postseason hopes will likely fall on the Bruins’ most trusted veterans like Bergeron, Krejci, Chara and Brad Marchand. But every player has to start somewhere when it comes to getting his feet wet for playoff action. And the sooner Boston’s younger core can shake off the postseason jitters, the better chance this B’s team has of hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup come June.

“I think they themselves have done a really good job of integrating the next wave of players,” Don Sweeney said of his veteran group. “I think [David] Pastrnak’s the obvious one, and Torey Krug’s another one. The guys that fit the middle tier, and then you have several younger players that are continuing to learn on a day-to-day basis, the habits and what is required to win at this level. That is something that until you go through, experience and really are very receptive to learning about it, it’s a difficult thing to do.

“You can go years without having an opportunity, and you can’t take it for granted. It’s a difficult league, and once you get yourself in that position, don’t pass up those opportunities to try and win. It’s a balancing act. You are infusing and incorporating younger players. You have an element of what’re you going to get? And our coach is going through that at certain times and challenges. And I think our core reinforces the principles that they believe in and are required to win. And I think we have a close team as a result of that.”