5 adjustments Bruins must make against Capitals in Game 2

After a frustrating Game 1 loss to the Capitals on Saturday night, here are a few adjustments that the Bruins need to make on Monday in Game 2’s rematch at Capital One Arena. 

Make a switch in net

If Boston really wants to switch things up, it’s time to bump Tuukka Rask out of the rotati-

*record scratch*

No, we’re not going here after one game. Again — take a deep breath, people. There’s a lot more that Boston can tweak instead of completely uprooting your goalie corps.

1. Keep things simple with top-six unit

If you’re looking for a 10-second clip that painted the picture of what Boston’s top line brought for most of Saturday’s loss — look no further than the opening seconds of overtime, in which David Pastrnak hesitated with open ice in front of him and opted for a low-danger slot shot that was easily blocked by the lone Caps skater back in Dmitry Orlov.

Pastrnak’s hesitancy to drive inside against Craig Anderson snuffed out any shot of a potential knockout blow against Washington, with Boston’s O-zone possession negated shortly thereafter after Brad Marchand tipped the puck into the slot and right toward Michael Raffl. 

As we noted in our Rask column from last night, Boston’s big guns up front should stand at the front of the line when it comes to the blame game after Saturday’s debacle, because even when they weren’t missing the net (21 total missed shots in the game), far too many promising O-zone looks against Anderson were scuttled by overpassing or the lack of quality looks down low. 

(A one-on-one situation here with Pastrnak should result in a whole lot more than a low-danger slot shot.)

With both Vitek Vanecek’s injury status still a bit up in the air and no word yet on if Ilya Samsonov will be given the green light to play after spending close to two weeks in COVID protocols, there stands a solid chance that Anderson might be the man in net once again on Monday.

And if that’s the case, Boston’s top forwards need to keep things simple and drive to the net — because the rebounds and other quality chances are going to be there. 

"We didn't generate nearly enough, no matter who was in net,” Bruce Cassidy said. “We had two odd-man rushes right out of the gate. I think Marchy and Pasta both passed them when we had good chances to score goals. Usually when that happens, it tells me we're overpassing, we're not maybe as dialed in as we need to be. Let's find it. I thought all night was a little bit like that … I thought we lacked some of that tonight in terms of overpassing, and it's been an issue for us this year at times. 

"So this isn't new, we'll work to correct it and talk about playing off the original shot and our O-zone spacing as well. Hopefully that opens up some offense for us because I do believe that Craig hasn't played a lot of hockey for them. He's a good goaltender. And you do want to sort of take advantage of that.”

2. Limit Caps on rush

Two of Washington’s three goals on Saturday might have come off of deflections, but considering the firepower present on the Caps’ roster, it sure seems like a proactive move to limit just how much space you give them in the O-zone, and especially on the rush. 

A bit of bad luck off of a broken stick from Charlie McAvoy led to a 3-on-1 that resulted in Tom Wilson’s first-period snipe, but the Capitals had plenty of other quality looks off of bad pinches and reads — holding a 5-1 edge in rush attempts. 

"Some of it was our gaps weren't good enough from our D,” Cassidy said. “They've got some some good forwards, so we probably respected them too much. We made probably three bad decisions by our D to get involved in the rush when probably wasn't the best time. 

“Obviously at the end of the second period, there's one I think Brandon jumped up when Lazar had it and not sure what happened, all of a sudden they're back, three on one. Grizz had a pinch when he got caught outside, so some of that was self-inflicted where you just gotta make better situational reads. ... I just thought as a whole wasn't our we didn't get to our game and sustain it well enough.”

(McAvoy activating with the top line nearly resulted in a Lars Eller snipe on a 3-on-1 to close out the second period on Saturday.)

3. More action up high in O-zone

The Caps might roll out a lineup with plenty of big bodies — especially on defense — but Boston did manage to generate some good looks in the O-zone when it came to winning puck battles on the forecheck down low. Of course, you’re usually going to run into trouble toppling over Zdeno Chara or Brenden Dillon on the ice, but if you dump pucks in and beat some of those slower skaters to loose biscuits, the avenue is there for extended looks in Washington’s zone. 

Cassidy had few qualms about Boston’s forechecking efforts in Game 1, but there was plenty of issues higher up in the O-zone, whether it be defensemen laboring with keeping pucks in or F3s keeping pucks from skittering out from Grade-A areas. 

"They held the blue line well,” Cassidy said of Washington. “I don’t think we attacked them well enough. I don’t think we were willing to drive wide, turn up and support pucks. I thought our O-zone spacing, our forward wasn’t high enough to stretch them out a little bit so you could use your skill and foot speed.

“I think we can be on top of them more with our D keeping pucks alive on rims. ... I thought our forwards did a good job creating turnovers on the forecheck below the goal line, that's one area of our game I liked. If we can keep a few more alive with our D being on time.”

4. Move the puck on power play

Nick Ritchie might have knocked home a goal on the man advantage, but Boston’s power play still labored for most of the night against a pretty active Caps penalty kill. It was the usual struggles for the B’s in this one, in which a PK that pressures high and stacks the blue line prevented them from getting time to set up in the O-zone, with far too many chances snuffed out due to poor entries. 

(In what has been a recurring trend all season, a Caps PK that pressures high gave Boston's power play fits in this one.)

"I thought our power play ... individually, we didn't do enough to get away from pressure and spin out of some situations where they're coming hard on us, knowing that you typically don't finish your checks on the PK and we were just kind of predictable where the puck was going," Cassidy said. :And as a result, we ended up working really, really hard just to get possession of it and get in the zone where normally we're a little better at breaking that with our individual skill."

5. Keeping third D pairing away from Ovechkin and Caps’ big guns 

Going into Game 2, Cassidy doesn’t expect any changes up front for his roster — but the D corps might be another story, as Jeremy Lauzon took a maintenance day on Sunday after taking a puck off of his hand during Saturday’s defeat. 

But even if Lauzon is cleared to slot back into the lineup, Cassidy might want to keep both him and Kevan Miller away from Alex Ovechkin and the Caps’ top line as much as possible — given that Washington scored a 5v5 tally and held a 10-2 edge in scoring chances during the 11:03 of 5v5 ice time when Ovechkin and Lauzon were matched up.

Cassidy ideally doesn’t like chasing matchups — and in a perfect situation, he won’t need to deploy a top pairing of McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk against a big line featuring Ovechkin and Anthony Mantha. But given how much the Caps titled the ice in their favor against the B’s third D pairing, Cassidy may not have a choice. 

""That's one we'll have to look at tomorrow. I think Kevan will do a good job against Ovechkin, play him hard," Cassidy said. "I think he got inside ice a little too often on us. ... If it's Carlo, he's long, should be able to deter that. So at the end of the day, they're going to dictate that, but it may have to be Grizz and Charlie — which, with Manta on the other side, is not ideal for Grizz. ... But we got to do what's best for the team and if he has to play against bigger bodies, he's done it his whole career.

"We're going to make that determination tomorrow once we get a better read on on who's healthy and whoever it is, they know — they got their hands full. (Ovechkin) can drive their offense when he gets going."