Bedard: Non-call was brutal, but Bruins aren't winning anything unless their best produce

Trust me, they're as angry as you. Maybe not Cam Neely-channeling-his-inner-Harry-Sinden mad — oh, and what a spectacle it would have been if Harry was in his prime as the commandant of the Bruins on this night — but the Bruins' players are definitely very ticked off about The Non-Call.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1136825882885140480

You could feel it in the locker room. Then Bruce Cassidy used the podium and microphone as his dragon as he laid the NHL league office to waste as if it was King's Landing.

"I mean it’s blatant and a big effect on the game," he said. "I’m a fan of the game, this is the National Hockey League and they’re getting a black eye with their officiating in the playoffs and here’s another one that is going to be talked about. I thought it was a great hockey game. That call probably, and there’s time, but it really made it difficult for us to get the win tonight. So I’m disappointed. ... It was egregious."

We could go on and on with the quotes, but the bottom line is the Bruins got screwed and it might just cost them a Stanley Cup.

But here's the thing. At some point, and it might not happen until puck drop for Game 6 on Sunday, everyone's going to have stop talking about the "egregious" missed call and move on.

Because the Bruins are two wins away from winning their seventh Stanley Cup, and this might be the final and best chance for Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, Brad Marchand and Tuukka Rask to add to their trophy shelf and legacy as one of the best groups to ever skate in black and gold.

Being pissed off and whining about the officiating is not going to change that. And those players deserve a much better send off.

And it's there for them.

It's not like they haven't been in this exact same spot ... in this postseason. The Bruins dropped Game 5 at home to trail the Maple Leafs 3-2. Boston won the next two to take the series.

And the last time the Bruins won a Stanley Cup in 2011, they trailed the Canucks 3-2 and won the final two games — including Game 7 at Vancouver.

This isn't over. That Fab Five is not going to let Boston fade into the night. Chara didn't play 16 minutes and 42 seconds just 72 hours after breaking his jaw and sipping his meals through a straw to tuck tail after a zebra screw job. No way.

They just have to play a hell of a lot better.

Let's be honest, officiating didn't completely lose the Bruins this game. St. Louis deserved to win. They had the better chances. They controlled play. Jordan Binnington outplayed Rask. We all know what we saw. That performance was not Cup worthy.

And if the Bruins' best offensive players don't start to play up to their reputation, you can flush those Cup dreams and it won't have anything to do with the officials.

I mean, look at this:

https://twitter.com/bruins_stats/status/1136836714675048448

https://twitter.com/bruins_stats/status/1136845785646002177

What happened to "The Perfection Line"? You can't tell me this is all the Blues and Binnington. What happened to snipes from Marchand and David Pastrnak? Why can't Bergeron find an opening to finish?

It's gotten to the point, if you're a Bruins fan, that you're more excited when you see Charlie Coyle (who was bumped up to the top line at one point because Cassidy was so desperate to find a spark) and Marcus Johansson on the ice than you are for Marchand and Pastrnak. And no wonder the Bruins and their fans are so obsessed with every single missed call — going on the power play is the only way the Bruins can score at this point. Thursday night was a horror show on the man advantage. The Bruins had three power plays and mustered five shots in six minutes. The Blues deflected more zone entries on the penalty kill than Boston had shots with one more player.

That's why the Bruins are down 3-2. And this series is going to be more of the same in St. Louis if it doesn't change.

Marchand has done an all-time disappearing act in this Cup Final, and you have to wonder if that scrimmage exit is the root cause. One of the most accurate shooters in the league now would rather pass than shoot. And as he feels the pressure mount, the closer he's getting to letting Bad Brad out of the cage — Marchand's low bridge on Vladimir Tarasenko should be close enough for anyone.

https://twitter.com/RJHenderson7/status/1136829484735164418

Krejci hasn't been much better. Pastrnak at least didn't appear to duck any hits in Game 5 like he did in Game 4. Bergeron's always been a product offensively of what's around him, and if Marchand and Pastrnak can't find him, maybe someone else can.

The Cup is where reputations are made and legacies are cemented. If the Bruins' best players don't find a way to rally and produce in these final two games, the talk about their lackluster play will be a lot louder than that missed call.

They've been in this spot before. They've been questioned before.

And they've responded.

Time for them to do it again to cement their legacy — and avoid it being dented.