Even in the immediate aftermath of an 0-for-39 slump, the Bruins’ top power-play unit is rarely lacking in confidence.
And given the lengthy credentials that each member of that potent five-man unit boasts, they have good reason to operate with such poise whenever an opposing skater heads to the sin bin.
When that grouping is clicking in the offensive zone, even the stoutest PK units are often stretched far too thin — tasked with trying to put out one too many fires en route to getting singed by way of a David Pastrnak howitzer from the left circle or a Patrice Bergeron wrister from the bumper.
For as much as Carolina’s top-ranked PK unit and its propensity to pressure puck carriers stand as a potential trump card against Boston’s man advantage, Bruce Cassidy and Co. have managed to get the better of this unit in previous playoff meetings — often to a devastating effect.
The Canes featured a top-10 ranked penalty kill back in 2018-19, but the Bruins shredded that Carolina PK during the 2019 Eastern Conference Final, cashing in on seven of their 15 chances on the man advantage during that four-game sweep. The following season, Carolina’s PK was the fourth-ranked unit in the NHL. And once again, Boston diced up the Hurricanes’ shorthanded crew up in the Toronto bubble, going 5-for-19 on the power play.
For all of the fits that Rod Brind'Amour’s roster can generate by way of aggressively drawing skaters up high to force ill-timed passes and costly turnovers, that pressing mentality does have its faults — especially when it comes to opening up plenty of real estate down low near the netfront.
The blueprint is there for the Bruins when it comes to inflicting some welts against Carolina in the offensive zone — especially as it pertains to the power play.
The only hurdle right now, however, is simply getting the puck into the offensive zone.
Considering what Cassidy has observed through four meetings this season against Carolina (a season series in which Boston has scored a whopping two goals), combatting pressure up at the high slot would seem to be a great development — given that it means Boston is at least possessing the puck in Carolina’s end.
But in a frustrating Game 1 loss on Monday night, Boston labored when it came to even carrying the puck cleanly into the Canes' zone — with Carolina making things difficult by draping the blue line with a wall of red-and-black sweaters.
Teuvo Teravainen’s 2-on-1 tally at 7:02 in the third period might have been the back-breaker for Boston two nights ago, but any hope of a B’s late-game rally was all but snuffed out when the Bruins’ third and final power play of the evening went out with a whimper midway through the final frame of regulation.
For all of the talk of Carolina’s pesky PK, the Canes didn’t have to do too much on that 5v4 sequence — other than just stack the blue line and wait for Boston’s skaters to crash into their orchestrated blockade.
If pucks weren’t outright turned away at the blue line, they usually only managed to skitter down along the boards before the second layer of Carolina’s PK swept them out of danger.
(On a Bruins power play in which Boston failed to generate a single shot on goal — and only a few fleeting seconds of legitimate O-zone time — the B’s big guns’ refusal to shift strategies with their entries killed any momentum for Boston to spark something in Carolina’s end.)
For Cassidy, Boston’s unwillingness to switch gears against PK units that refuse to relinquish easy entries has been a regular flaw with this club in 2021-22, a development made even more frustrating by the fact that a simple solution is available.
"We're stubborn on our entries,” Cassidy said on Wednesday afternoon. “We have been against a number of different teams and we worked on that yesterday and hopefully it translates where you play behind them a little bit like 5v5 where you go get it and win the puck battle and then get your offense going that way. And then eventually, hopefully, that backs them off the blue line because they know we're throwing it behind them.
“They want a head start to get the first touch. Now that opens up maybe a little bit of ice in front of them and that's a little bit of the trade-off and hopefully we can go in with possession. That'll be the plan. They started doing that, because we held the blue line as well. So it was tough entries for both teams the other night. That's why you didn't see a ton of good looks in the power play. And that's what we have to do.”
Of course, if simply dumping the puck in and going to work on the forecheck stands as a logical contingency plan — why exactly haven’t Boston’s skaters followed through with it?
Granted, when you’ve got a five-man squad with a hallmark for O-zone creativity, deferring to a simple, north-south style of play usually stands as an unsavory shift in thinking. But considering their preferred method of gaining the blue line has often led to little work for Carolina, adjustments will need to be made.
“They don't want to do it, because they don't want to give it up,” Cassidy said. “They're creative guys, they're skilled guys. They want to make plays. How about we go get the puck back and then make our plays once we have possession? The O-zone is kind of what you're selling. And exactly, it's up to them to eventually buy into that. And hopefully, they do. We worked on it and they lived it Monday. They lived it, right?
“Once you live something, it's a little bit easier to say, 'Okay, maybe we do have to make this adjustment. They're good.' And we'll see if, as I said, tonight hopefully we will mix both because you still have to make plays on the power play to score. But you also got to have time in zone to do that. And that's what we worked on, trying to get more time in zone by not being challenged at the blue line and not being able to get possession in there.”
Given the speed that Boston does possess on that PP1 unit with guys like Taylor Hall at the netfront, the Bruins should have the means to win the footraces necessary to prolong some O-zone possessions (at least longer than what Boston put forth in Game 1).
And if Boston can start ticking some seconds off the clock in Carolina’s own zone, that soft ice in Grade-A areas could begin to expose itself, especially if Boston can continue to draw the Hurricanes PKers out to the slot.
(During Boston’s 7-for-15 showing against Carolina’s PK in the 2019 Eastern Conference Final, players like Jake DeBrusk feasted on the Hurricanes’ knack for leaving the netfront unprotected while pressuring puck carriers higher up the ice).
Of course, the Bruins have other adjustments that must be carried out in the offensive zone during Game 2, especially when it comes to crowding the net against a goalie in Antti Raanta who let a few too many pucks escape his grasp on Monday night.
Be it at 5v5 play or on the power play, the Bruins desperately need to start turning their high shot volume into tangible production. And for a Bruins power play that has usually had Carolina’s number in the postseason, those efforts are going to hinge on if this five-man unit can buy-in to some boring, north-south hockey for the time being.
“I think with every team comes a different challenge when it comes to special teams," Charlie McAvoy said. "They're real stubborn at the blue line, they do a good job there. So for us, it's something we worked on yesterday, and we watched some film on ways that we can get into the zone. So that's going to be the objective tonight.”