They might not have been the "Big Bad Bruins" of yesteryear, but the last B’s team to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup back in 2011 certainly wasn’t a group to be trifled with.
With bruisers like Milan Lucic and Shawn Thornton in front and players like Adam McQuaid patrolling the blue line, the 2010-11 Bruins were not afraid to crack some heads and drop the gloves when necessary — accruing 1,105 penalty minutes, including an additional 392 over 25 postseason games.
Leap forward eight years, and things have changed quite a bit — both across the league and with a Bruins organization that remains synonymous with hard-nosed, punishing hockey.
Even with Brad Marchand’s 96 penalty minutes in 2018-19 — good for a tie for eighth place among all NHL players — this Bruins club isn’t exactly a group that’s looking to duke it out with every minor transgression out on the ice. As a team, Boston only compiled 783 penalty minutes this season — a far cry from the days in which a guy like Jay Miller would cap off a season with 304 PIM (1987-88).
By this point, however, Bruce Cassidy and Don Sweeney aren’t wasting any breath bemoaning the NHL’s shift to speed and skill over the past decade or so. It’s time to either adapt, or get left in the dust.
For that such reason, it looks as though one of Boston’s bruisers in its bottom-six — veteran David Backes — will be the odd man out up front when Game 1 against the Maple Leafs gets underway on Thursday at TD Garden.
While Backes’ offensive numbers have dropped off in his third season with Boston (seven goals, 20 points over 70 games), the 34-year-old winger had managed to carve out a solid role for himself on a straightforward, north-south checking line over the past month — generating a 55.12 Corsi For Percentage and a plus-3 goal differential in 136:18 of 5v5 TOI alongside Noel Acciari.
But against a Toronto club that looks to push the puck up the ice in a hurry, a slower power forward like Backes would likely be a mismatch that Mike Babcock and Co. will look to exploit.
“I suspect they’ll want to play that way,” Cassidy said of Toronto. “Their formula for success against us would be to outskate us, outskill us, get on the power play. So we’ve got to be ready for that in Game 1.”
While Backes could slot back in if needed, Joakim Nordstrom will likely remain on the fourth line for Game 1, skating in place of Sean Kuraly, who will miss at least the first two games of this series. A strong skater that also ranks second among all Bruins forwards in terms of average shorthanded TOI per game at 1:39, Nordstrom provides plenty of value given what Boston is set to face over the next two weeks in a Leafs team averaging close to 3.5 goals per game.
Opting for Nordstrom over Backes is a move made to even the playing field a bit when it comes to speed out on the sheet, but striking a balance for this club will be paramount if Boston intends on getting past its Original Six foe.
Gone are the days of numerous line brawls and heavyweight bouts becoming a regular sight night in and night out. But that doesn’t mean Boston is going to give players like Auston Matthews, Morgan Rielly and John Tavares plenty of soft ice to operate in.
Rather than landing knockout punches off of heavy, open-ice checks, the Bruins are more than happy with getting into a war of attrition with the Maple Leafs, especially when it comes to wearing down Toronto’s skill players on the forecheck. They may not be the Hanson Brothers, but bottom-six contributors like Acciari and Chris Wagner (468 combined hits this season) are going to be busy when it comes to making shifts very, very uncomfortable for the opposition.
“We value the Acciari, Wagner kind of players of the world that can play against the other team’s best players — where the other players line up every day and say, I’ve got to play against this guy for two straight weeks? I think there is value in that.,” Cassidy said.
Of course, the Leafs can counter by running the B’s out of the gym if speedsters like Mitch Marner and Kasperi Kapanen are able to play keep-away with the puck.
“Sometimes you go out there and you’ve got a guy that can fly around the ice and you’re like, I’ve got to chase this guy around for two straight weeks? That’s the way they’re approaching it if they’re on their game,” Cassidy added. “It’s different philosophies, I guess, but at the end of the day, you have to be able to skate to win the playoffs. And I think you have to have a certain amount of grittiness. I don’t think you can roll out 20 skill guys and expect - at this time of the year, teams just, they bear down a little more. They manage the puck better … I think you need both.
“I don’t think you can win if you’re slow anymore. But I don’t think you can win anymore if you don’t have a certain amount of grit. So how do you find that balance? I think a great example of that is Pittsburgh and Washington. They've won the last three. You can say — maybe Pittsburgh, you think of more speed, but I thought they had a lot of grit. They won their games 2-1, 2-0, at the end. Washington has lots of size and skill but they play heavy too. I think it’ just required.
With a big-play, risky Toronto breakout ready to be countered against by a bruising forecheck, the Bruins seem to have just the right mix to both trade punches with Toronto on the offensive end, while also overpowering the Leafs in battles for possession and control of the puck.
“Everybody knows that the playoffs get ratcheted up, physicality wise.,” Sweeney said. “The elements of intimidation and fighting, there are pockets of those that still exist in the game, and I think a team toughness, we maintained that. That’s an important quality to have. As an organization, we think it’s something we adhere to, to defend the guy to your left and to your right is a very important quality.
“And to be able to back that up and play in those tough situations, that’s what winning requires at this time of the year. So, I think it will always be an element in our game, but the skill and speed has certainly. … the league has evolved an awful lot in that period of time.”
Adapt, or get left behind. So far, the Bruins are checking off all the boxes.
Game 673 between the Leafs and Bruins had a retro feel to it.
Three fights —
Kadri v. Carlo: https://t.co/vqWsgx5csD
Hainsey v. Wagner: https://t.co/r6b0kxngS1
Hyman v. Grzelcyk: https://t.co/satFxYd9fF pic.twitter.com/3tGw0EmSBg
— hockeyfights (@hockeyfights) December 9, 2018
