A stagnant bottom-6 grouping is due for a reshuffle after disappointing Game 4 showing

Aside from another strong showing in net from Tuukka Rask, there weren’t a whole lot of positives to draw from Boston’s Game 4 loss to the Islanders on Saturday night — a contest where expected O-zone layups were bungled and D-zone miscues doomed a prime chance to put New York on the ropes before a potential knockout blow could be delivered at TD Garden in Game 5. 

David Pastrnak’s one-time whiff with plenty of twine in front of him — and Semyon Varlamov parked in the lobby of the Long Island Marriott — serves as the most jarring reminder of just how close the Bruins came to putting the Isles on the ropes at Nassau Coliseum. But the B’s sniper was from the only culprit in what was a frustrating night for Bruce Cassidy and Co. 

Matched up once again against J.G. Pageau and the Isles’ third line, Patrice Bergeron and his regular linemates labored, with Bergeron struggling at the faceoff dot (10-of-24) and New York holding an 8-2 edge in 5v5 shots on goal during the “Perfection Line's” (groan) 11:25 of ice time. 

David Krejci might have scored the lone goal on the night for the B’s, but his line also suffered a similar fate as Bergeron’s — with the Isles generating eight scoring chances to their two during 11:46 of 5v5 TOI. 

"It just wasn't our night tonight,” Krejci said postgame. “I don't want to speak for other guys, but I definitely didn't have it today.” 

On the blue line, Cassidy bemoaned some poor decisions from his D corps — with Kyle Palmieri’s equalizer in the second period coming on a bang-bang sequence in which Charlie Coyle was the lone man guarding the netfront. 

But when it comes to realistic adjustments to help stem the tide and regain control of the series during a pivotal Game 5 showdown on Causeway Street — there’s only so much that Cassidy can do when it comes to what he can and can’t tweak.

In regards to his shorthanded D corps, the hope is that one (if not both) of Brandon Carlo and Kevan Miller can slot back into the lineup — giving Boston much more heft and netfront protection against the likes of Mathew Barzal and the Isles’ top-six grouping. 

As for Boston’s own big guns, one poor outing is not going to warrant any major changes — not with that unit. Just like it was unrealistic to expect that Boston’s top line was going to keep on piling up hat tricks as they did in Game 1, it’s unrealistic to expect that both the Bergeron and Krejci lines are going to be negated as they were on Saturday for the long haul. 

So what can Cassidy do between now and Monday night beyond just the expected adjustments to the X’s and O’s? 

Well, taking a long look at that bottom-six unit is a good start. 

Of course, we all know the deal with the makeup of Boston’s forward corps at this point now. On most nights, the Bergeron and Krejci lines are expected to do most of the heavy lifting in the O-zone. As such, the onus doesn’t fall on the likes of Coyle, Jake DeBrusk and Nick Ritchie to pace the B’s in the O-zone, with that potpourri of a line usually just tasked with adding supplementary scoring. 

And while Boston’s fourth line is often handed a tough gig when it comes to a bevy of D-zone starts and matchups against top-six foes, there’s still at least an expectation in Cassidy’s system to grind down the opposition, throw your weight around and answer with timely scoring when the opportunities are there. 

But so far in this series, such hasn’t been the case when it comes to either line consistently living up to their billing.

Even though that checking unit does deserve some credit for only relinquishing one goal in their 63:28 of 5v5 ice time together (with just 6.12 percent of their faceoffs set in the offensive zone), those draining shifts have usually found the Kuraly-Lazar-Wagner line treading water rather than punching back against the opposition — with Boston getting outshot by a 34-21 rate during that extended stretch of ice time. 

A retooling on that fourth line might be prescribed — at the very least in order to find more of a spark in the bottom-six — but the more concerning trend has to be the Coyle line. Even though the Weymouth native lit the lamp in Game 2 and has generally been more assertive since getting pushed back over to the pivot position — his wingers in Ritchie and DeBrusk have largely been dead weight in this series against New York.

(You might want to avert your eyes from what we saw from the Coyle line leading up to Barzal's go-ahead tally. A whole lot of ugly, especially from DeBrusk.)

During the three games that the Ritchie-Coyle-DeBrusk line have primarily skated together against the Isles, things haven’t gone all that well for the Bruins in their 24:41 of 5v5 ice time — with Boston only outshooting New York, 10-8, and getting outscored, 2-0. 

With DeBrusk pushed out of his usual spot at left wing and forced to play the puck on his backhand while on his weak side — and Ritchie’s value dashed after being taken off the top power-play unit — the pieces just haven’t fit on a third line that, despite getting 63.6% of their faceoffs in the O-zone, have been out-shot by a margin of 34-25 so far this postseason. 

Even though the Bruins may not have the most dynamic set of reinforcements in waiting (especially with Ondrej Kase out for the remainder of the postseason), something’s got to give when it comes to the make-up of this bottom-six unit ahead of Game 5 — because Boston can’t be dragged down by far too many passengers further down on its depth chart. Even if that means additions like Trent Frederic or Karson Kuhlman, it's worth a shot at this juncture. 

If you’re looking for a silver lining from Saturday night, perhaps you can find solace that the Bruins — with their top-six largely continued, bottom-six nonexistent and D corps decimated — were still stuck in a 1-1 deadlock against the Islanders with just seven minutes left in regulation. With Boston’s top stars in line for a rebound and Rask still locked in between the pipes, hope should not be lost in this series as it shifts to a Game 5 meeting in Boston. 

Boston’s roster should still trump New York’s over the span of a seven-game series.  But if Cassidy wants to further tilt the ice in favor of his own club, some changes need to be made when it comes to who draws into the lineup on Monday night. 

"We got to get our energy level back, so we'll revisit some stuff that we did better in the first three games — reinforce that,” Cassidy said postgame. “Obviously look at our lineup, the health of our lineup — there could be some guys that come around for Monday. We don't know that, especially in the back end, but we'll just have to make a determination with that. That's usually where we start. ... Listen, this is a resilient team. Good hockey club we're playing. We feel we're their equal and more. We just got to go and prove it on Monday."