The 2021-22 Bruins, like 15 others teams, had plenty of question marks going into yet another promising Stanley Cup run.
Would a new goalie tandem of Swayman/Ullmark be able to handle the rigors of two-plus months of postseason action?
Would a new goalie tandem of Swayman/Ullmark be able to handle the rigors of two-plus months of postseason action?
Is this going to be Patrice Bergeron’s swan song?
But the one query the B’s didn’t think they’d have to answer this time around?
Would there be enough secondary scoring?
It’s a question and an overarching concern that has likely manifested in the subconscious of every Bruins fan over the years, especially when the going gets tough for their favorite hockey club. And those fears have regularly been justified.
In a league marked with so much parity and a game dictated by a bevy of variables whenever the puck is dropped, it’s almost comforting in some respects that there usually isn’t just one culprit responsible for dismantling a promising postseason campaign.
But upon examining the postmortem reports from Boston’s previous playoff exits over this latest 3/4-year contention window, the writing has often been on the wall when it comes to what has derailed season after season — a dearth of scoring production outside of the usual suspects such as Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.
Be it the 2019 Stanley Cup Final in which Boston could not drum up enough offense after Bergeron’s line stalled out against Ryan O'Reilly, a 2020 second-round exit in the Toronto bubble where Boston’s supporting cast was walled off from Grade-A ice by Tampa, or a disappointing second-round exit against the Isles in 2021 (with a no-show performance from middle-six cogs like Taylor Hall and Craig Smith), the Bruins have been burned time and time again when asking the rest of the depth chart to pull on the rope in the offensive zone.
But this 2021-22 Bruins team sure felt different, didn’t it?
In wake of Bruce Cassidy’s lineup reshuffle at the start of the new year, questions regarding Boston’s depth scoring seemed — at long last — like a thing of the past.
It was a hope validated by an extended sample size of proven on-ice production. Unlike in previous years in which the B’s hoped guys like Ondrej Kase could serve as viable top-six stalwarts, the Bruins entered this postseason with plenty of proven, established NHL regulars sprinkled in across the lineup.
With Jake DeBrusk settling into a groove on the top line (18 goals in final 34 games), Erik Haula looking like a legitimate (and unexpected) 2C (19 points in final 19 games) and that top-six equilibrium pushing talent like Charlie Coyle and Smith down to the third line, the Bruins had to feel good about their chances of cooking up matchup woes for opponents this postseason.
Fast-forward nine days later … and this Bruins' season feels like it's taking a page out of a script from another sequel in a tired Marvel movie franchise.
Some flash. Plenty of thrills. And, in the end, the same ol’ song and dance in a disappointing third act.
Just enough to keep you glued to your seat and excited for the assured twists and turns. But a similar ending, all the same.
For as much as you can chalk up Boston’s current predicament (down 3-2 in its best-of-seven series against Carolina) to a litany of factors, such as the benefits of last change, some ticky-tack calls and much more — the elephant in the room has been unchanged.
Despite their best efforts, the Bruins are simply not getting enough offense outside of their big guns.
"Not enough,” Cassidy said following Boston’s 5-1 loss in a pivotal Game 5 down at PNC Arena. “Not enough up and down the lineup. We're gonna need a little bit more — whether it's working hard to keep the puck out of the net, which we did up in Boston a lot better — blocking shots, finishing checks so guys can't join the rush.
"Sorting out coverages quick. … We need to get some guys going. That's on me to find a way to get them going. But it's also the time of the year when that inner drive comes through. And that's what we're looking at.”
As expected, Rod Brind’Amour threw his full arsenal of defensive weapons at Boston’s top line of Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak throughout Tuesday’s game, often deploying both Jordan Staal’s line and the Skjei-Pesce D pairing whenever that grouping hopped over the boards.
Granted, Boston still had its chances with Bergeron’s line out there — with Marchand in particular nearly tucking a puck past Antti Raanta just minutes into the contest — but it became evident as the game carried on that more help was going to be needed further down the lineup.
But it was nowhere to be found.
Once again, a second line anchored by Haula failed to generate much in the offensive zone — with the pivot only recording his second point of the series on what was essentially a garbage-time goal by Connor Clifton at 10:09 in the third period.
While Haula’s offensive totals drying up has been a serious concern, his (uncharacteristic) defensive shortcomings have been a back-breaker — with the two-way forward getting lost on a rotation up high that led to Jaccob Slavin’s opening tally at 6:11 in the opening period.
But Haula’s been far from the lone skater responsible for Boston’s scoring slump outside of the top line.
Craig Smith — he of 16 goals during the regular season — has yet to record a single point through five games. At this point in the series, Clifton has more 5v5 points than Smith, Coyle, and DeBrusk.
Even a dependable fourth-line foot soldier like Tomas Nosek has found himself falling out of favor — logging just 7:09 of ice time in a lackluster performance further up the lineup.
Their backs might be up against the wall, but the Bruins aren’t losing faith as they return to TD Garden for Game 6.
And frankly, why shouldn’t they? With last change back in their control and the Bergeron line ready to exploit easier matchups, the Bruins have to like their odds of evening up this series once again on Thursday night.
But if the Bruins want to keep this latest Cup run alive beyond this weekend, they’re going to have to eventually slay the beast down at PNC Arena — a house of horrors in which the B’s have been outscored, 15-4, over three games.
“They were going,” Cassidy said of the Bergeron line. “At the end of the day, you need the guys behind them following and that's what we're looking at. I mean, sort of middle of the order, whatever you want to call it, that they can bring more offensively. If not, they got to be real tight defensively ... Some nights, it's your top guys and special teams and goaltending — that was a story in Boston a little bit — then as long as you're pulling the rope, contributing in some way shape or form, we're good with that.
“Obviously the guys that are used to scoring, they want to contribute in that manner, but help us win then if the pucks not following you. This isn't a middle-of-the-year, sort of 'We'll get through it' — it's a short series and maybe the next one will be kinder to you in those regards. So that's the ask right now of some of the guys in the middle of our lineup.”
If it comes to a decisive Game 7, those defensive matchups thrown out against the Bergeron line aren’t going to change.
And if the B’s supporting cast doesn’t change their approach either, we’ll likely be asking ourselves a familiar question once more in the coming weeks.
What could have been for the 2021-22 Bruins?
