When the Hurricanes are playing to their strengths and executing Rod Brind’Amour’s vision of a fast-paced, unrelenting five-man unit, just about any skater etched into their lineup sheet can throw a wrench in the opposition’s game plan.
Top-four blueliners such as Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce are often the bedrock of Carolina’s strength down both ends of the ice — tasked with both sweeping pucks out of danger around their goalies and orchestrating quality chances in the O-zone by way of volleys fired in from the point.
Top-six stalwarts such as Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Terraivanen and Andrei Svechnikov are often the ones who make the opposition pay — either tipping home those shots from the blue line or delivering the dagger at the end of an extended O-zone possession.
But on a Carolina roster stacked with dependable contributors, Jordan Staal and Carolina’s third line might stand as Brind’Amour’s most invaluable tool — especially once the NHL calendar flips to the postseason.
With Staal — a 6-foot-4 pivot who's long been lauded for his defensive acumen and skill at faceoffs — flanked by a pair of quick-skating, two-way wingers in Jesper Fast and Nino Niederreiter, Carolina can deploy a trio capable of both hampering a top-six line and landing a punch or two in the offensive zone.
“Staal's line is a very dominant defensive line,” Brad Marchand said of Carolina’s bottom-six crew. “Very hard on forechecks. They're big, so they cover a lot of space in the D zone and the neutral zone. They compete. They're very good on face-offs as well. So you don't always get as many opportunities off of that, which is kind of a strength of our group.
“But that's the playoffs. It's a chess match. …They've been great in the series so far. And again, those are the types of players that take you deep into playoffs.”
Any Cup contender needs dependable foot soldiers like Staal and his line, who are ready and willing to shut down top stars, night in and night out.
And if the Hurricanes do indeed plan on playing deep into the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they are going to need Staal and Co. to get the best of their toughest assignment yet.
Carolina’s propensity for committing boneheaded penalties (and Boston subsequently cashing in on those opportunities) has played a major part in the Bruins forcing this first-round series back to Raleigh in a 2-2 deadlock.
But when it comes to landing punches at even-strength play, Bruce Cassidy’s mid-series lineup reshuffle and the decision to reunite a top line of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak has given Boston a trump card that the Hurricanes have yet to counter so far in this series.
The two-way brilliance and offensive firepower that 63-37-88 wield has been well-documented for years now. But after getting split up at the turn of the new year (a necessary lineup tweak in order to generate balanced scoring), this line has been an absolute cheat code whenever they hop over the boards.
Since Cassidy stuck with them full-time midway through Game 2, the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line has logged 18:44 of 5v5 ice time together against Carolina. And during that stretch, Boston has held commanding leads in...
Shot attempts: 22-9
Shots on goal: 13-5
High-danger scoring chances: 7-1
Goals scored: 4-0
Just a fantastic set play by the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) May 8, 2022
4-2 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/GQxYQ894Br
Of course, some of that O-zone mastery has been the byproduct of some home cooking — by way of Boston being afforded last change and the ability to dictate matchups out on the ice.
In Game 1 at PNC Arena, Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes essentially stuck the Staal line on Boston’s top line of Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk — with Bergeron and Staal matched up for 9:19 of 5v5 ice time.
It worked wonders for the home club, with Carolina outscoring Boston, 1-0, in that 9:19 en route to a commanding 5-1 victory.
But in Games 3 and 4 at TD Garden, the Bruins limited the on-ice meetings between the reunited Bergeron line and Staal. In Sunday’s Game 4 victory — a contest in which Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak combined for a casual 10 points — Bergeron and Staal were only on the ice together for 1:45 of 5v5 ice time.
Notice a correlation?
Of course, that luxury will no longer be afforded to Boston going into Tuesday’s pivotal contest down in Raleigh, with Brind’Amour all but assured of deploying Staal and his crew once again against Bergeron — most likely with Carolina’s top pair of Slavin and Tony DeAngelo (which could make for a tremendous theater between him and Marchand).
In some respects, reuniting the Bergeron line can serve as a double-edged sword for Boston. While the rewards of sticking with that top line are rather evident on the scoresheet, you do run the risk of putting too many eggs in one basket— making it easier for Brind’Amour to throw all of his shutdown options at one line in order to limit Boston’s firepower outside of the man advantage.
Of course, the Bruins will need more regulars up front to pick up the slack, especially players who have been a bit barren on the scoresheet like Erik Haula (one helper) and Craig Smith (0 points).
But the Bruins also aren’t operating with the notion that Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak’s best option is to simply break even with Staal’s line down at PNC Arena.
Even though Boston came up short in Game 2 (a 5-2 final), 63-37-88 did manage to get the better of their limited time against Niederreiter-Staal-Fast in the third period — with Bergeron deflecting a puck past Pyotr Kochetkov in the third period to mark his second tally of the evening.
A lot has changed in this series since then.
The Hurricanes might have a stout grouping to rely on in head-to-head matchups, but the Bergeron line’s credentials speak for themselves.
And after dicing up Carolina on Causeway Street, Marchand and Co. might be smelling blood in the water.
“It seems like that was a hurdle that we really weren't able to get over all year with this team,” Marchand said earlier this week of Boston finally starting to bury some goals against Carolina. “They're extremely good defensively, all over the ice, the way they play above guys and create turnovers all over the ice. So yeah, we really haven't been able to penetrate the way that we've been able to in the past against teams. So it feels good to put up a few goals tonight. But again, we've got to prepare again — the same way that we did — and be even better and try to do it again."
