With David Pastrnak still sidelined, how else can Bruins give slumping power play a boost?

What’s the best way for the Bruins to resurrect an impotent power play that hasn’t lit the lamp since April 2?

Get David Pastrnak back in the lineup and entrenched his familiar spot at the left circle. Easy enough. 

Of course, if it was REALLY that simple, we wouldn’t be writing about it, right?

For as much as Boston has desperately needed Pastrnak’s trusty one-timer to help break this current 0-for-25 drought on the man advantage, Bruce Cassidy and Co. are going to have to wait a bit longer.

Even though Pastrnak and Hampus Lindholm skated at Warrior Ice Arena ahead of Monday’s practice, both skaters won’t travel (along with fellow banged-up B’s in Linus Ullmark and Jesper Froden) on Boston’s two-game road trip - with their next possible return date set for Saturday’s afternoon matchup against the Rangers.

“Well, that’s the plan," Cassidy said of Boston’s efforts of getting Pastrnak and Lindholm back in the fold before the postseason gets underway. “They should be ready the week before and maybe as early as this weekend. I’m ruling them out for Tuesday/Thursday and not Saturday/Sunday. … For them, it’s getting their game back in order, their timing, etc.”

Getting Pastrnak back on the ice will be key to Boston’s hopes for a long playoff push. But for as much as Pastranak’s howitzer could make a world of a difference for a power play that’s failing to do a lot of damage, the truth of the matter is that Boston’s man advantage was out of sync long before Pastrnak ended up on the shelf.

That 0-for-25 drought will snag most of the headlines, as expected. But a longer sample size doesn’t inspire much confidence, either - with Boston now 6-for-55 on the power play over the last few weeks. 

Fair to say, some of the issues hampering one of Boston’s tried-and-true strengths go beyond just Pastrnak’s absence.

So as the Bruins await Pastrnak's return, what adjustments could Cassidy and the Bruins make in order to get this power play humming again with the postseason less than two weeks away?

Let it fly from the left circle

As we noted on Thursday night, the Bruins’ top power-play unit sans Pastrnak is still a lethal crop of talent - capable of doling out heaps of damage when afforded time and space in the offensive zone.

Opposing PKs are more than aware of this. They’re also fully aware that Pastrnak’s absence is scrubbing that game-breaking one-timer out of Boston’s arsenal.

As such, it hasn’t come as much of a surprise to Cassidy that PK units are gradually shifting over to the right to account for the other main engines on the PP1 unit in Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

For as much as teams would love to drape multiple skaters over Bergeron in the bumper spot or pressure Marchand along the half-wall, that luxury isn’t afforded to a shorthanded unit when you also need to account for Pastrnak lurking at the left circle.

The task is a bit easier these days.

“People know David is not over there, it’s not a one-timer, so their whole kill shifts a little more over to that strong side we run off, which closes off Bergy, which gives Marsh less time," Cassidy explained. “Even the netfront is converged on quickly. We were trying to stretch it out a little the other day, getting some shots from there, even though it’s not a one-timer — to get them away from there to open up the other side.

“It’s still a work in progress. A lot of left shots that play the power play. Not a lot of right one-timers, so, that’s the loss with David.”

As Cassidy noted, the Bruins might have some useful forwards to plug into the PP1 unit like a Jake DeBrusk, but a left-shot forward like that is not naturally set up to receive a seam pass from Marchand or a biscuit from the blue line and quickly fire off a one-timer.

One potential quick fix might be a promotion for Craig Smith - a fellow right-shot triggerman. Even though Smith doesn’t have the blistering shot that Pastrnak wields … it’s still pretty damn effective, especially if given time and space to wind up.

He may not be the most obvious short-term replacement for Pastrnak, but Smith’s ability to snap off shots from the no-man’s land that’s developed on a Post-Pasta power play could be what Boston needs to generate more quality looks - or at the very least, keep a PK unit on their toes.

A switch up top ... and a lot more pace

Charlie McAvoy has benefitted immensely from his new role as Boston’s go-to option on the top power-play unit.

Of his 52 points scored this season (already a career-high), 21 have come on the power play - a major surge from his previous high of eight last season.

But if the Bruins were really looking to shake things up in hopes of a spark, perhaps swapping out McAvoy and inserting Matt Grzelcyk in that blue-line spot could yield some strong returns?

While both McAvoy and Grzelcyk are poised with the puck and capable of extending O-zone possessions by holding the blue line and keeping in skittering pucks, Grzelcyk does offer a different look in terms of his passing ability - or namely, just how fast he’s able to feed the puck back into Grade-A ice without much hesitation.

Pace has often been a missing component during this prolonged slump for Boston, which has often given PK units ample time to set their defensive structure and telegraph some of the B’s plays.

If you’re moving the puck with authority and stretching out a PK structure, you’re only going to increase the odds of a patch of Grade-A ice revealing itself down low - be it at the bumper with Bergeron or down along the netfront.

A lot of it comes down to simple execution, but having a guy who can sling the puck around in short order could make things a bit easier for the snakebit forwards down low.

“I thought we missed a couple opportunities to hit the open guy by holding on to a little too long," Cassidy said. "That's something we talked about — the pace, and then it closes down and then we get ourselves in a little bit of a bad spot where he can't make a high-percentage play.”

Grzelcyk earning more reps could help Boston move the puck a whole lot faster, but it also won’t do this club very good if the biscuit continues to die on the stick of a player either not willing to shoot or giving the opposition too much time to readjust in their ownzone. 

Even after Torey Krug’s departure as the club’s power-play QB (his slap shot has been sorely missed, I’ll note), the Bruins have still held court as a top-10 power play for years thanks to the rest of the team’s ability to keep teams guessing, poking holes in their D-zone sturdier and making them pay.

Boston still has the tools in place to land punches with ease. But they're going to need to put teams on the ropes first — and that's not possible without a lot more movement around the offensive zone. 

"It's tough when you lose a weapon like him," Marchand said of Pastrnak's absence. "He opens up a lot just because he's such a threat — even when he's not handling the puck or shooting it. But it's about finding out how we have to play without him. We had a couple chances that we missed the last couple games that we probably should have capitalized on, but we haven't been overly clean. So it's just about cleaning up our execution. 

"If we do that, I think we'll create more opportunities and hopefully capitalize. Sometimes when things aren't going your way, you have to simplify a little bit and whether it's just funneling pucks to the net or winning a few more battles, support, a little more communication when you have new bodies on the power play to play in different positions. So just little things we can clean up that'll help us be better."