The opposition knows what’s coming whenever Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk all hop over the boards.
Or rather, they know full well of the dire situation that they’ve put themselves in when the Bruins’ top power-play unit is called upon to do damage. Knowing what exactly to expect when the puck is dropped? Now that’s another question entirely.
It was a testament to the B’s proficiency on the man advantage that the team’s power-play success rate actually managed to drop on Tuesday night against the Sharks — even with Boston cashing in with two goals against a San Jose PK that entered the contest with a league-best 93.2% kill rate.
As expected, Boston’s power play has continued to convert at a terrifying clip this season — striking gold on 30.9% of its opportunities through 12 games, the best mark in the NHL. It’s an impressive encore performance after this same unit boasted an absurd 32.4% success rate during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the results aren’t too surprising, given the personnel that Bruce Cassidy and his staff have at their disposal.
But even with a power-play QB on the blue line in Krug, a savvy playmaker at the bumper in Bergeron and howitzer waiting in the left circle in Pastrnak, Boston’s power play is far from a one-trick pony. The book might be out on these players when it comes to their established strengths, but what makes the B’s power play so damn difficult to contain is
its ability to adjust on the fly and land punches against whatever PK scheme the opponent throws out against it.
"I find, between the great players that we have on the power play as well a great power-play coach, we’re able to see what adjustments are needed to be made,” Krug said last May. “Sometimes even though we have an ugly power play here or there, we have the talent and the grit and determination that any time we jump over the boards, we can change the game.”
A lot of that success has to do with the Bruins' willingness to not remain stationary on the man advantage, especially when it comes to Krug and Marchand on the half wall, along with Pastrnak’s willingness to operate up high.
This trio is often in motion throughout their minute-plus of 5v4 shifts, forcing killers to often second-guess their structure in just a couple of harrowing seconds.
When that power play is at its best, either Marchand or Krug are finding seams from the half-wall out to a waiting Pastrnak in his office, with Bergeron waiting in the bumper to clean up rebounds or funnel the puck back out to his teammates.
https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1189324990610661383
Often times, teams will crowd up the slot and bully Bergeron in the bumper in an attempt to stifle the Bruins by taking away their man in the middle and halting those seam passes.
(Not much doing here with the slot clogged up against Toronto).
But Marchand and Krug’s willingness to operate down low still creates plenty of scoring threats, such as when Krug was in the perfect position for a rebound goal against the Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the opening round.
(Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Bruins
How a personnel change and one tweak created one of the most devastating power plays in the NHL
During Boston’s perfect 4-for-4 showing on the power play during Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, the B’s opted for more low-to-high plays in order to draw St. Louis out of the slot —
When you have players like Krug, Bergeron and Marchand logging heavy minutes for years, you’re not going to see too much of a dip in terms of 5v4 production. But what has allowed this unit to evolve from being a top-10 power play into one of the most effective groupings the league has seen in some time?
Krug and Marchand’s shifty style of play has played a major role, according to Cassidy — a facet of the team’s power-play structure that wasn’t considered feasible until a couple of personnel moves were made.
In previous years,
Ryan Spooner
was often a mainstay on the power play — with 35.9% of the playmaking pivot’s total points in Boston coming on the power play (51 of 142 points). But with Spooner’s playstyle often favoring a sedentary strategy, Boston’s playmaking potential was often hampered at times.
“
Brad was netfront then, so Brad wanted to move around a little bit and exchange with Spoons,” Cassidy told the media at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday. “But Spoons would end up at the netfront and that wasn’t going to work. He wasn’t as comfortable there as Marchy was. Ryan was more comfortable on the half wall, being stationary.
“I thought Ryan was good at what he did, on the half wall, don’t get me wrong. But he wasn’t a guy that wanted to move away from there a lot. Unless he went up to the point at the odd time and snap a few through if something really wasn’t happening.
“That was more in Providence, when he came here he didn’t want to move from there, so I just thought he was a guy that was more static, whereas Marchy is a better player when he’s moving. He sees seams better. Spooner to me, reminds me a bit of a
(Marc) Savard
on the half wall. A guy that would see the ice standing still.”
When Spooner was dealt from Boston back in February 2018, Marchand and Krug were given the green light to operate along the boards, with
Jake DeBrusk
taking over as a netfront option. Add in Pastrnak’s ability to corral the puck up high — and well, you have the potent, adaptive quintuple that you have today.
Don’t expect this newfound strategy to change anytime soon. After all, if it ain’t broke ….
“Torey and March started switching a bit on the half wall — we encouraged that, and then we started building David into moving up top a little more, which is sometimes dangerous,” Cassidy said. “You get your forward up top, we saw the shorthanded situations, so that is one we’ve got to balance.
“So encouraging those three guys high to move a lot more. Bergy is not moving a ton out of the bumper. He’s so smart — he knows when to move and when to support, but he’s generally always in the middle of the ice. We had a couple set plays against Toronto because their D came out to the bumper a lot, tried to take him away, so we’ve moved him around, but that’s situational more than anything. In general, he’s going to be in there and Jake’s in front of the net, so those other three guys, the fact that they can move around and see the ice and make plays, I think that’s where we become tough.”
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