The Bruins have 33 days to make a move — or moves — necessary to buff out the flaws on this roster and give the Bergeron core a better shot to contend for a Cup later this summer.
But at this point, waiting until the April 12 trade deadline to pull the trigger on a move might be far too late — given both the tightening standings in the East Division and continued impotence from a B's forward corps outside of the usual suspects of Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.
With Boston coming up short in the shootout to the Islanders on Tuesday, Bruce Cassidy's club currently sits in fourth place in the East in terms of overall points, with fifth-place Philadelphia sitting outside of the playoff picture — just one point behind the B's. Of course, given how compacted the top of the division is with teams like the Islanders (36 points), Capitals (34), Penguins (31), Bruins (30) and Flyers (29), all it might take is another hot stretch for Boston to soar back up the standings.
But that would require Boston to start potting pucks with more regularity — at least outside of the line that is already tasked with shouldering a considerable amount of the scoring burden. And so far, any semblance of relief — at least with this roster as constituted — is far from a guarantee.
Despite a few promising looks from David Krejci's line, the B's offense was still primarily driven by their big guns down on Long Island, with 63-37-88 combining for 16 of the B's 33 shots on net Tuesday, and the lone tally coming off of a Pastrnak power-play strike in the first period.
Even with extended O-zone possessions at times in the first and second periods of play, Boston's middle-six grouping struggled to tilt the ice firmly in favor of their club, with the Krejci/Coyle/Kuraly lines relinquishing 38 shot attempts in over 32 minutes of 5v5 ice time.
The Bergeron line? Only five shot attempts allowed in 11:42 of 5v5 ice time.
This top-heavy showing from the B's offense has been far from a one-game blip or a concerning trend at this point, given that one of Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak have tallied HALF of Boston's 64 goals on the season.
Simply put, this is the roster that the Bruins are stuck with right now, and until moves are made, this roster is going to be hampered by the same flaws that let a Stanley Cup slip through their fingers in 2019 — and clipped their wings the following summer up in Toronto.
While we covered trade targets on the blue line such as Mattias Ekholm last month — a shorthanded D corps soldiering on without the likes of Brandon Carlo, Jeremy Lauzon and Kevan Miller has managed to hold up their end of the bargain as of late. Currently, the Bruins rank fourth in the NHL in goals against per game (2.35), and have only relinquished five goals in their past five games.
And during that same five-game stretch? They've only collected six out of a possible 10 points. That lack of secondary scoring is suffocating the Bruins right now, and letting points in an uber-competitive division slip away.
While the case remains that the Bruins can (and should) target Ekholm and other trade chips on the blue line to shore up a steady (but far from proven) D corps for a playoff run, the pursuit of an established, top-six scorer is shaping up to be a necessity for this team — and not just for the playoffs. Right now.
"I thought we were the better team — didn't have much luck around the net," Cassidy said of his team's effort on Tuesday. "Certainly they had a few opportunities, I think (Mat) Barzal, we had some issues — duplication in zone entries. But other than that, I liked our team's effort from start to finish. It was a pretty tight third period, we had issues with our third periods in here the last three times, so we played better — didn't generate a lot, but didn't give up a lot either. So we kept ourselves in the game and again had a few opportunities to win it in overtime and didn't."
Indeed, the effort is largely there for the Bruins. They have arguably the top line in all of hockey. Their defense structure and layers have been crisp for most of the season, and they have both Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak in net. Contributors such as Nick Ritchie, Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka are doing what they can to offer a spark in their respected roles.
But after passing on proven snipers like Tyler Toffoli (15 goals in 24 games with Montreal) or Mike Hoffman (18 points, 14 during even-strength play - of which I'll definitely eat some crow here), the Bruins must do what they can to course-correct and give this lineup some added punch.
Because at this point, you're not getting guaranteed — and perhaps consistent is the keyword here — production from the likes of ...
- David Krejci: Who, albeit through some bad luck on Tuesday, is still without a goal (and just six even-strength points) on the season, even though 68% of his 5v5 faceoffs have been set in the offensive zone.
- Jake DeBrusk: Who spent Tuesday night watching the game elsewhere at Nassau Coliseum after getting scratched due to his one-goal output on the season.
- Craig Smith: Who has only buried one goal in his last 14 games while earning regular reps in the middle-six grouping.
- Charlie Coyle: Who has lit the lamp just three times in his last 16 games — with an eight-game scoreless skid sandwiched in between that stretch.
- Ondrej Kase: Who has not played since Boston's second game of the season (Jan. 16) after taking a high hit from Miles Wood.
