Bruce Cassidy isn’t diverting too much energy into fretting about his top line in the Stanley Cup Final. Not yet, at least.
So far, Boston’s top trio up front in Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak have left much to be desired so far against the Blues — combining for one goal (an empty-netter from Marchand in Game 1) and just one assist.
Down the other end of the ice, it hasn’t been much better for Boston’s usual shutdown combination — with the Blues top line of Brayden Schenn, Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko tallying three 5v5 goals during the 8:10 of time on ice in which Schenn and Bergeron have been out on the ice at the same time together.
Through two games, Schenn vs. Bergeron has been a mismatch that few really expected going into this best-of-seven series, but Cassidy and his club aren’t exactly sounding the alarms quite yet.
As has been the case throughout this postseason, the Bergeron line has both the skill and moxie to impose its will against the opposition when it's clicking. After combining for just two goals and six total points through the first three games of the Eastern Conference Final, they swept the leg against the Hurricanes in a clinching Game 4 — combining for four goals and eight points in a dominant showing.
They certainly have the track record when it comes to flipping a switch over the course of a seven-game series, and Cassidy doesn’t have much of a reason to believe that won’t change against St. Louis.
“So far this series, Schenn’s line’s got some 5v5 goals. ….They're going to go to that matchup in St. Louis, can't speak for them. If that's the case, it's a big challenge for Bergy, March and Pasta,” Cassidy said “They've been up to it. I don't imagine that will change. I suspect in Game 3 we'll see their best game of the series. That's speculation, but I suspect that's what will happen.”
Cassidy’s rationale when it comes to his positivity about his top line is well-founded. After all, it can’t get too much worse.
While the Bergeron line has dealt with its fair share ebbs and flows this postseason when it comes to 5v5 production, it has often offset those scoring lulls by smothering an opposing top-six matchup.
Even when they failed to get much going against Carolina at the start of the previous series, Rod Brind’Amour and his staff didn't find too much of a silver lining with their defensive efforts against the Bergeron line — as Carolina didn’t manage to land a single shot on goal against Tuukka Rask during the 15:30 of 5v5 TOI in which Bergeron battled against the ‘Canes top center in Sebastian Aho.
Clearly, that hasn’t been the case against the Schenn line this week, and the results have been rather staggering when you look at some of the other competition that Bergeron and Co. have gone up against during this Cup run.
Despite battling the likes of John Tavares/Mitch Marner, Artemi Panarin/Cam Atkinson and others over the last couple of rounds, the 63-37-88 combo had only relinquished two 5v5 goals in 127 minutes of ice time entering the Stanley Cup Final. Giving up three tallies in under 10 minutes of head-to-head action against Schenn’s crew is, well, not ideal.
“I think they're a really good line,” Bergeron said Thursday of the Schenn line. “They play well together, good at forechecking, turning pucks over. We need to capitalize. For us, it's about being better. We've dealt with this, this whole Playoffs against different lines. It's no different. We know how we can play. It's about taking care of the puck in our zone.”
With a 1-1 deadlock set to be snapped in Game 3 Saturday night in St. Louis, the Bruins are going to need the Bergeron Line to at least start generate results on at least one side of the ice (and preferably both).
While both the Coyle and Kuraly lines have more than pulled their weight this series — and for this entire playoff run as a whole — Boston isn’t going to be hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup any time soon if all of its production is being generated from the bottom six or on the blue line.
The Bergeron line, in particular, was lambasted following Wednesday’s disappointing Game 2 loss on home ice — a contest in which Marchand was tabbed with more giveaways (four) than shots on goal (two).
“We need to be better,” the B’s winger said. “Personally, I wasn’t good the last two games so we can’t be playing like that.”
But Bergeron’s line was far from the only line that labored at generating quality chances on the night — as Boston’s second wave of David Krejci, David Backes and Jake DeBrusk didn’t fare much better.
While Backes has brought considerable snarl and leadership to Boston’s lineup, the second line has gone stagnant as of late — scoring three 5v5 goals and giving up four down the other end of the ice this postseason despite spending a hefty amount of its shifts out of the B’s zone (84.48 O-zone faceoff percentage).
In total, a line centered by either Bergeron or Krejci logged 17:31 of 5v5 TOI during Wednesday’s loss. During that stretch, the Blues held the edge in:
- Shot Attempts: 22-10
- Shots on Goal: 9-4
- High-danger scoring chances: 5-0
- Goals: 1-0
