‘GOT TO KEEP GRINDING’ TO GET BACK IN SERIES
Containing Boston’s big line and Karlsson’s health top concerns heading into Game 2
The pressure is always on the loser to make the adjustments, to find an edge somewhere in the margins to turn the tide.
And so it goes for Senators coach Guy Boucher, who is now facing the prospect of having to defeat the Boston Bruins in four of six games to advance to the second round.
Another defeat Saturday afternoon at the Canadian Tire Centre would put the Senators in the position of having to win at least two games in Boston (and possibly three) to survive.
Given that the Bruins clearly own the most dominant line in the series — the Patrice Bergeron-Brad Marchand-David Pastrnak trio that broke the 1-1 deadlock with 2:33 left Wednesday — control of the matchup game swings considerably in the Bruins’ favour in Boston.
Incidentally, Boucher said Wednesday that he plans on continuing to use the defence pair of Dion Phaneuf and Cody Ceci against the Bergeron line. For all the critics, he really doesn’t have any other option, especially with Marc Methot’s tender finger still affecting how he shoots the puck and possibly keeping him out again for Game 2.
Worries about containing the Bruins’ big line is only one of the many reasons why there should be concern for Boucher and company.
Let’s look at where most things on the Senators begin and end: With captain Erik Karlsson.
He played a respectable 24:04 in Game 1 and his bank pass off the glass set up Bobby Ryan for the Senators’ lone goal, but the two- or three-step burst which typically separates him from opponents was missing in the series opener.
At his best, Karlsson is a game breaker, more valuable to the Senators than Marchand, Bergeron, Zdeno Chara or anyone else on the other side. If there’s an advantage in the long layoff until Saturday’s Game 2, it’s that Karlsson will have an extra day for treatment, perhaps pushing him closer to full health.
From a more team-oriented perspective, it’s baffling the Senators, who boast playoff experience throughout their forward lines, backed off in the third period. As impressive as Ottawa’s 12-0 shots edge was in the second period, the Bruins were saved by the bell — er, buzzer — to close it out.
“If you look at the game, we changed ourselves,” Senators right winger Mark Stone said.
“Sometimes, you look at it like you don’t want that second period to end. We come in here (to the dressing room) and sit for 15 minutes and we didn’t come out with the same intensity. I think it’s natural for teams to do that, but we weren’t able to regroup quick enough.”
Boucher insists the game plan didn’t change, that the goal was to remain aggressive, but he admits the Senators were “cocooning,” which allowed the Bruins to come at them in the final period.
There is room here, though, to question how the ice time was allocated.
On a night when Ryan led all players with six shots on goal, he played only 12:27. Tom Pyatt checked in at 17:58, third among forwards behind Mike Hoffman (19:15) and Kyle Turris (18:23).
By not pushing hard enough, the Senators failed to exploit a severely depleted Bruins defence.
The Bruins were without Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo, two of their usual top four. After Colin Miller left early in the second period, they finished the game with only five blue-liners, including the rawest of rookies, 19-year-old Charlie McAvoy.
Unquestionably, there are deep concerns for Boston coach Bruce Cassidy — if Carlo doesn’t return Saturday, Joe Morrow, who played all of 17 NHL games during the regular season, looks like the next option — but at least the Bruins have proven they can win with less than their best.
McAvoy came away smiling from his pressure-packed debut, actually playing seven seconds more than Karlsson.
“You’ve got to keep grinding,” said Senators forward Alex Burrows, when asked about trying to exploit the fragile Bruins defence. “You’ve got to keep getting pucks behind them. You’ve got to use your speed. Make them turn. Make them play tough minutes and it’s going to pay off down the road.”
Perhaps. The Senators certainly showed they could take advantage of the Bruins defence in the second period.
There’s also this, though: It seems highly unlikely that the Bruins could ever turn in a worse stretch of hockey.
The Senators allowed them to escape from it and must now find a way to dig out of a hole of their own.