Whether it be power play or 5v5, a slumping top-6 is leaving the Bruins rudderless against Columbus

If we’re going to dissect Boston’s disappointing double-overtime loss to the Blue Jackets on Saturday night (err … Sunday morning), might as well run it back to the moment when things went south for good.

On second thought, let’s go back a bit further — before Matt Duchene fired a rebound home against Tuukka Rask at 3:42 in the extra, extra period to close out a 3-2 contest. Boston’s go-to man in the middle, Patrice Bergeron, was in the sin bin for a tripping call at the time of Duchene’s power-play strike.

It can be easy to harp on the gall to call a penalty in a hard-fought, 2OT playoff game, or blast Bergeron for putting himself in such a predicament by tripping up Seth Jones. But if we’re going to pick apart the reasoning as to why Boston isn’t heading over to Columbus with a comfortable 2-0 edge in a best-of-seven series, it goes beyond a simple tripping call.

Rather, it’s the entire body of work before Game 2 devolved into a grueling, 84-minute affair. And for Boston’s big guns up front like Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak — there isn’t a whole lot to hang your hat on.

While Pastrnak lit the lamp on Saturday — by way of a deflection off his skate blade on a Charlie Coyle wraparound bid — the box score as of late for Boston has featured a concerning lack of the usual suspects.



Following Saturday’s loss, eight of Boston’s last 10 goals have come from players outside of Boston’s top-six. The two credited to the Bruins’ most effective weapons up front? Pastrnak’s deflection on Saturday, along with Patrice Bergeron’s empty-netter against the Maple Leafs in Game 7 last week — scored with one second remaining on the clock.

Not encouraging stuff if you’re Bruce Cassidy and the rest of the Bruins, who have someone managed to stay afloat so far thanks to strong responses from both Coyle and Sean Kuraly’s lines.

If we’re gauging results on paper, perhaps reports of the top-six unit’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. After all, in nine playoff games, Marchand, Pastrnak and Bergeron have all still managed to combine for 10 goals and 21 points over nine games played.

But as of late, the trio’s production has tanked. If we take away Pastrnak’s deflection and Bergeron’s empty-netter, the 63-37-88 grouping has generated a whopping zero points in Boston’s last three games.

Remarkably, Boston managed to go 2-1 during that stretch, but Saturday’s loss was a tough pill to swallow — with a chance to arrive in Columbus with a series edge negated thanks to another power outage up front.

Asked postgame, Cassidy doled out most of his criticism for Boston’s first power play unit — with some of its key cogs including Bergeron at the bumper, Pastrnak at the elbow and Marchand hovering near the blue line. Columbus does have a stout penalty-kill unit — tied for first overall in the regular season at 85.0 percent success rate — but Boston hasn’t exactly made things all that hectic for Sergei Bobrovsky during the man advantage, either.

So far in this second-round matchup against Columbus, Boston has only managed to cash in on one of its eight chances on the power play — with that tally scored off the stick of Matt Grzelcyk on the B’s second PP unit.

In total, the Bruins have skated out for 13:40 of TOI during 5v4 play. And during that extended stretch — and with plenty of ice to work with — Boston has only landed seven shots on goal, including just a pair in Saturday’s loss.

“I think where they could’ve done better tonight as a group, and they’re part of that group, is the power play,” Cassidy said. “Clearly, that’s the place to get going offensively, and we didn’t execute well enough. We got a goal off of it, but really, not nearly to the level those guys have executed all year.

“Columbus has good sticks. You have to respect that. We’re forcing plays and not executing the plays we should, and they’re part of that group, so that’s where – if I’m going to lay blame on them – it’s more in that area than 5v5. I think they’ve generated some stuff. It just hasn’t gone in."

Sure enough, Boston has not been completely stifled when it comes to attempting shots and generating scoring chances. But when it comes to translating that into tangible goals? Well …

Pastrnak’s struggles have been well-documented over the last couple of games, but Saturday stood as a bit of a clean slate for the slumping winger, as he returned to his usual spot up top with Bergeron and Marchand.

It didn’t last very long. In total, the 63-37-88 line was only utilized for 3:31 of 5v5 TOI on Saturday before Danton Heinen switched spots once again with Pastrnak. Before Cassidy juggled his forwards, the Blue Jackets held a 5-1 edge in shot attempts and 3-0 advantage in both shots on goal and scoring chances when Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak were deployed together.

Without Pastrnak, the Bergeron line fared much better — generating a 71.43 CF% with Heinen in tow while also handling plenty of shifts in Boston’s own zone. (25% Offensive Zone Faceoff Percentage).

“To me, I still think he’s indecisive,” Cassidy said of Pastrnak. “Whether to shoot or pass. You see it on the power play, it looks like he should shoot, the opportunity to make a play there, it’s forced. He just has to kind of fight his way through it. We tried to play him with both Bergy and Krech, give him centers he’s comfortable with. Moved him away for a little bit with Coyle. There’s only so much that you can do with personnel in terms of shifting them around.”

Pastrnak’s struggles have become very evident over this latest stretch of games, but Marchand and Bergeron are not exempt either — especially when it comes to 5v5 production.

During the regular season, a line featuring both Marchand and Bergeron didn’t have much trouble dominating in the offensive zone — scoring 44 goals in 729:13 TOI and generating 3.62 goals and 11.77 high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes of 5v5 play.

But in the postseason — regardless of which skater to added on at right wing — the Bergeron-Marchand combo has labored. Through 117:01 of TOI together this postseason, the Bruins have only scored three goals with No. 63 and No. 37 on the same line, with the opposition drawing even with three goals of their own.

If you want to compared offensive rates? The pair have only generated 1.54 goals per 60, despite producing the same number of high-danger chance rate of 11.77.

So, it’s not the penalties, that’s for sure. And when it comes to getting chances, it’s all still there for Bergeron and Co. But finishing said chances has been a different story so far in the playoffs, and it’s holding the Bruins back from capitalizing against a favorable playoff field in 2019.