Bedard's Daily Briefing 05.02.19: Huge game looms for Bruins, Red Sox sweep

Good morning!

A few random thoughts while I wonder what Bruce Cassidy has up his sleeve...

• All eyes will be on the Bruins tonight in Columbus as they try to even the series 2-2 and make it a best of 3. Obviously, they don't want to go down 3-1 but I'm not quite ready to call this a must-win. The Bruins would still have two games at home and would just need to win one road game to win the series.


• Still, it's hard to have a lot of confidence in the Bruins. Given their age and playing a seven-game series against the Leafs, Boston's best shot at winning in Columbus might have been Game 3 with an extra off day.


• But these are still the Bruins. They still have Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, David Krejci, Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug. The pressure is on the Bruins' best players to raise their collective games. The reason the team is in this spot is that their best haven't been at their best.


• Is David Backes the answer? I'm worried about this move because the Bruins need more speed and Backes doesn't bring that. Will he knock Artemi Panarin around a little bit? Will Backes annoy Sergei Bobrovsky in the crease? Sure. But I don't know if there's enough upside in this move.


• Cassidy should stick to what got this team here, and that's Cassidy going with his gut and sitting unproductive players. Sit Pastrnak, give him a few days to clear his head, then let him get his groove back at home. He's not helping. He should definitely be off the power play.


• Big couple of practice days for the Celtics. Both teams have fired their shots. Now the real series begins on Friday night.


• Hey, the Red Sox swept a series ... are they finally getting it?


• Interesting story on Jarrett Stidham and Damien Harris.

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