Despite scoring woes, Bruins aren’t battling a ‘5-alarm fire’ with their slumping top line

A night after Boston’s top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak generated zero points despite having a whopping 91.67 percent of their faceoffs held in the Leafs’ zone, Bruce Cassidy and assistant coach Jay Pandolfo sat down with the trio, looking for some answers in wake of a 3-2 loss to Toronto in Game 3.

Now trailing 2-1 in their series with the Leafs and with a pivotal Game 4 scheduled for Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena, the Bruins need to get their big guns on the same page and fast, as the three have only generated six points through three games this series — a year removed from a playoff run in which they generated nine goals and 30 points against the Leafs over seven games.

For as disheartening as the results have been for the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line as of late, Cassidy isn’t ready to push the panic button quite yet.

“Jay meets with these guys probably every three weeks to 10 to 12 games," Cassidy said. "They like to go over some stuff, they want to get better. They're real coachable. I think sometimes, Bergy has to reel his wingers in and sort of get them back on the same page. … We just want to get them back on the same page. I think they like structure, they crave it, and then they add that to their creativity and off they go. This isn't some five-alarm fire meeting with them, it's a simple revisiting basics, what can we do against Toronto that's playing them hard, to help them create a little offense and off they go.”

Stating the obvious, the Bruins are digging quite a hole for themselves if they leave Toronto down in the series, 3-1. So what can Cassidy and Co. do to get Boston’s top line humming once again?



A potential solution, as Cassidy has shown numerous times this year, is to simply break them up. Perhaps not the most conducive way to get all three of Bergeron, Pastrnak and Marchand engaged, but it’s hard to aguable with the fallback plans.

Slotting down Pastrnak on a line with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk might be just what the 22-year-old winger needs to get back on track after only tallying an assist through three games this series.

While pairing up a dynamic forward like Pastrnak with a two-way, defensive forward like Bergeron has its merits, Pastrnak has thrived when logging shifts with a playmaker like Krejci. In 296 minutes of 5v5 TOI in which Pastrnak and Krejci have skated together, Boston has generated 17 goals for and just nine goals against — while holding a 62-40 edge in high-danger scoring chances and a goals-allowed per 60 minutes rate of 1.82.

For the other 651:46 of 5v5 TOI in which Pastrnak has skated with another center — most alongside Bergeron — the Bruins have a goals-allowed per 60 minutes rate of 2.76, while generating just a plus-1 differential when it comes to high-danger scoring chances.

Likewise, the results have been positive when a defensive-minded forward like Danton Heinen has been added to the mix with Bergeron and Pastrnak.

While a 63-37-43 line might have less firepower (3.34 5v5 goals for per 60 min.) than the regular 63-37-88 combination (3.51 GF/60), the overall production isn’t too far off — with the former combining for 11 goals in 197 minutes of 5v5 TOI together. Where that Bergeron + Heinen line also provides plenty of value is down the other end of the ice, as it relinquished just four 5v5 goals during 24 games together during the regular season. Pretty impressive stuff, and a welcome sight against a Leafs offense that can bury you in a hurry.

However, for now, it looks as though Cassidy plans on keeping his regular top-six intact for Wednesday night.

“Yes,” Cassidy said of keeping the Bergeron line together. “Could change quickly. I think they've recognized where they've left offense on the table. Hasn't been much of a line rush, offensive series, since maybe the first game. ... They've done a good job of limiting (Mitch) Marner and (John) Tavares, they're good offensive players. So it's been a bit of a battle that way.

“Two good offensive lines playing good defensively, just can't seem to get it going offensively. I think that's where the power play can give them some juice. We didn't have it last night on the power play. That's something where that group is usually good. They were out of sync last night, forcing some plays. We have to get them back on track tomorrow."

Sure enough, clicking on the man advantage could be the spark needed to get the Bruins rolling — with four of the top line’s six points this series coming during a stint of 5v4 play.

After operating at close to a 33 percent clip during last year’s series victory against the Leafs, the Bruins only managed to generate one shot on goal during 5:37 of power-play time on Monday. And while that one shot was a goal from Charlie Coyle, Boston’s top unit on the man advantage often shot itself in the foot against the Leafs.  

“We have a checklist of plays we run through,” Cassidy said. “If you watch us enough, you know what they are — it's bumper, seam, netfront type of thing and see what we can get out of that. So we tried a little interchange and I think we weren't on the same page with that and I think we forced that.

“So that was the problem in zone. Entries, we lost patience. ... So if we can stick to what we do and make minor adjustments without getting out of what we do, just because we know they're going to frustrate, we know that they're going to come hard up ice. We've got to manage the puck. That's part of it. … I think it was on us last night. I really do."

Shot selection might be the most confounding issue at the moment when it comes to how Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak have seen their offensive numbers drop as of late. While a sniper like Pastrnak tends to fire home his shots further away than most goal scorers with an average shot distance of 33 feet — he’s made things much easier for Frederik Andersen so far this series, with his average shot distance tabbed out at 40 feet (usually the range for defensemen that don’t stray too far from the blue line).

(A look at Pastrnak's shot maps during the regular season and so far in the playoffs. A smaller sample size, for sure. But still, not ideal).





“They need to make more plays from below the goal line, protects pucks and have more O-zone time,” Cassidy said. “They're so good reading off one another — when it's a shot, rebound, recovery — separate now and make a play. Most teams come back into their own zone. They practice it and they have a plan. They know where to go.

“Once a puck comes to the net, now all bets are off — who's low, who's going? — and they're so good at, if the team's not right on cue, they'll make a play. And I think they need to be a little more of that mentality, where it's second opportunity, second chance O-zone play that breaks their defense down. And if they can do that, I think you'll see them getting more opportunities."

While Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak all have the skill to take over a game at any given moment — keeping things simple and causing havoc down low might be just what this group needs to get rolling and give Boston a much-needed lift.

Other Bruins Notes

While the Bruins may not be making any tweaks to their top six, the club could be getting some reinforcements for Game 4 in the form of both Marcus Johansson and John Moore. Johansson, who missed Games 2 and 3 due to illness, practiced on Tuesday while skating on a third line with Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen, while Moore skated on the B’s bottom D pairing alongside Matt Grzelcyk. Moore last played back on March 25 against the Lightning, exiting the game with an upper-body injury after getting knocked into the boards.

While Johansson and Moore are officially listed as game-time decisions for Wednesday, the addition of Johansson would force a forward out of the lineup — with David Backes standing as the extra skater during Tuesday’s practice. Seems to be a curious pick, given Backes’ efforts in Saturday’s Game 2 win and his five shots on goal on Monday.

“He made it through practice, skated a little extra," Cassidy said of Johansson. "Obviously feeling better, he looks like he has some color again. But again, until he shows up tomorrow healthy he'll be a game-time decision. But encouraging, at least, that he's here today working with the group.”

While Moore seems poised to slot in for Steven Kampfer, Cassidy did add that Sean Kuraly will not be cleared in time for Game 4. The speedy forward took part in the later stages of Tuesday’s practice, but he’s not quite ready to return from a fractured hand that he suffered back on March 21.

“Kuraly will not go in tomorrow,” Cassidy said. “He's not ready to play yet. He's still working on it. Johnny Moore went through the whole practice in a normal color jersey - encouraging again. Tomorrow if he has no ill effects, he'll be a game-time decision as well."

Stats via Corsica, Natural Stat Trick and Sean Tierney.