A shorthanded D corps might stand as biggest challenge to Bruins' Cup hopes

When it comes to doling out blame for a season falling short of a Stanley Cup title, it’s rarely one solitary flaw that contributed to a team’s undoing. 

The fate that befalls 30 of the 31 clubs in the NHL is a byproduct of multiple contributing factors — be it underachieving stars, a dearth of scoring depth, the talent in net, coaching woes, salary-cap crunches, injuries and sometimes, well, just plain dumb luck. 

The Bruins, looking to hoist the Cup for the first time in a decade, have seen previous fruitful seasons and playoff runs undone for numerous reasons. 

A regular theme that has tanked promising playoff pushes has been a reliance on its trusted top trio of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak — and a lack of even-strength scoring punch outside of that first line. 

This season, the health of Tuukka Rask looms large when it comes to just how long Boston can carry this campaign into the summer if their top option between the pipes is hampered with a lingering ailment. 

But through eight games against the Capitals and Islanders, some of those concerns have been assuaged. 

Even though Boston’s bottom-six has left something to be desired, the additions of Craig Smith and Taylor Hall have given Boston a lethal top-six unit — with Boston holding commanding leads in shots on goal (175-100), scoring chances (159-86) and goals scored (12-4) this postseason when the Bergeron and Krejci lines have been deployed.

And even if he’s not at 100 percent, Rask sure doesn’t look hampered all that much (.934 save percentage through eight games). 

But if it’s not one thing, it’s another is a familiar mantra for teams this time of year, because even the most loaded rosters usually have a lot one area of a lineup that could unravel a season in short order.

And for the 2021 Bruins, it might be a skilled — but suddenly very shorthanded — D corps.

All things considered, Bruce Cassidy offered some positive updates on Friday morning — especially considering how concerning the optics were on Thursday after Brandon Carlo was felled by a Cal Clutterbuck check. 

And while the hit itself from the Isles’ fourth liner was clean, the results were awfully concerning, with Carlo dropping to the ice and struggling to find his bearings before exiting Game 3 in the third period of play. 

Given Carlo’s history of concussions (three since 2017 - including one earlier this year off of a cheap shot from Tom Wilson), it was fair to assume the worst for Carlo and his odds of returning for the foreseeable future. 

But after noting postgame that Carlo remained at the rink and was chatting with his teammates following the overtime win, Cassidy added on Friday that Carlo hasn’t been ruled out for Saturday’s Game 4 matchup at Nassau Coliseum. 

“Feels good this morning. (Doing) better,” Cassidy said of Carlo. “Obviously got hit hard (Thursday) night. I’ll give you an update (Saturday) on if he’s in or out.”

Of course, Carlo’s own health must take precedence when it comes to any lineup decisions, given how slippery of a slope brain injuries can be when it comes to putting yourself back in harm’s way. 

But if Carlo is given the proper medical clearance to safely return on Saturday, it would save his head coach from a number of tough decisions on his blue line — as the loss of Boston’s second-pairing stalwart is going to severely hamper an already banged-up D corps.

With Carlo out, the right side of Boston’s D corps is going to be in a bind, especially with Kevan Miller still on the mend from a likely concussion (although he did skate at Warrior on Friday). The likely solution is to bump Connor Clifton up to the second D pairing, handing the only other healthy right-shot blueliner other than Charlie McAvoy a healthy bump up in minutes. 

Granted, a second pairing of Clifton and Mike Reilly has actually fared pretty well during the regular season — with Boston holding a 9-2 edge in goals scored during that duo’s 98:58 of 5v5 ice time. 

While Boston should be in good hands with that top pairing of McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk leading the way, Boston is going to need big performances from Reilly down the stretch, especially if Carlo does need to miss time. 

"He shot the puck more. He likes to look for plays in the o-zone, off the rush. Which is a good thing,” Cassidy said of Reilly’s play in Game 3.  “I mean, he makes good plays, but there's a time to shoot. I thought he put more pucks on net. ... Got to be ready to go low to high and then get it back to the net while they're still recovering."

But even if Reilly-Clifton hold their own, Boston still has plenty of question marks further down on the depth chart. With Steven Kampfer out for the remainder of the season due to hand surgery, Boston doesn’t have any other right-shot D remaining to roll out — with Jarred Tinordi, Jakub Zboril and Urho Vaakanainen serving as the next men up on a third pair next to the left-shot Jeremy Lauzon, who’d likely slot over to the right side. 

“That’s (a decision) I think we’ll deal with tomorrow,” Cassidy said of who’d slot in if Carlo is unavailable. “We have Vaakanainen, Zboril and Tinordi here. All have played a little bit of right but obviously are left sticks. So, that’s a decision we’ll make, talk about (Lauzon) might have to go to his off side. I know (Matt Grzelcyk) has played it, but that’s a road we don’t want to go down, so one of those guys will have to find a comfort level if that’s what we have to do.”

Perhaps Boston might dodge a bullet and get Carlo back as early as Saturday night — with Miller potentially not far behind. But these injury scares, coupled with the lack of depth further down on the roster, should give B's fan pause when it comes to ways in which Boston's playoff hopes can be dashed. 

As appealing as it might be (and the player himself likely would be game for it), you can't roll out McAvoy 30+ minutes a night and expect that the play of the franchise blueliner is often to patch up a D corps that is doomed to take on water against teams like the Lightning, Avalanche or Golden Knights if Boston punches its ticket to the next two rounds of playoff action. 

When it's playing up to its potential, Boston's defense is a potent mix of speed, skill and snarl — be it the 5v5 buzzsaw that is McAvoy/Grzelcyk, Reilly's playmaking prowess, Carlo's shutdown ability and the thump that Miller, Clifton and Lauzon can provide. But during the gauntlet that is playoff hockey, injuries are the price one pays for the chance to hoist the greatest trophy in sports. 

For Boston's sake, this latest string of unfortunate luck with both Carlo and Miller stands as the worst of it.