Bergy injury accents goal woes
The Bruins had no update on the injured Patrice Bergeron yesterday, saying there will be one today before the team practices at Warrior Ice Arena.
Bergeron left Wednesday’s game in Washington after taking a Matt Niskanen shot off the inside of his right knee. He needed assistance to get off the ice and to the dressing room. He returned for two shifts but could not finish the game. He was seen limping noticeably after the game.
Bergeron’s presence is of the utmost importance in the Bruins’ bid for a playoff spot. If this is a short-term injury, it has happened at a good time. The B’s play tomorrow in a big divisional game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, then don’t play again until Thursday, ample time to rest if it is just a deep bruise.
But with or without Bergeron, the Bruins need to find offensive punch from another line besides the top one. Brad Marchand is having a wonderful season and, if the B’s do make the playoffs, should be in the Hart Trophy discussion. His two-goal night in Washington pulled him into a tie with Evgeni Malkin for third in the league in scoring, five behind leader Connor McDavid and two behind Malkin’s teammate, Sidney Crosby.
The second line of Frank Vatrano, David Krejci and David Backes has yet to find a consistent balance of offense and defense. The trio provided offense in the win over Tampa Bay on Tuesday, but gave up a lot of chances. Though on the ice for the game-winner in Washington, the line was better defensively but gave no push offensively.
“I think we gave them too much respect,” said Krejci of his line. “We’re a team. We’re five people on the ice. It’s not just the (defensemen) or just the forwards. We all play together. We have to communicate. We have to be on the same page. We have to create more scoring chances. We didn’t do that (Wednesday).”
Backes is still throwing his body around, but has gone stone cold with just one assist in his last 11 games. He is minus-8 in that stretch. Vatrano remains a good prospect, but he’s been kept off the score sheet in 14 of his 20 games this year.
“Krech and his linemates were better (Tuesday), somewhere in the second period they got themselves going, so you’re hoping that they could build on that, but they were very quiet again (on Wednesday),” said coach Claude Julien. “But there’s more than just them. If we’re not going to get production from our bottom part, either, basically we need more than just the Bergeron line scoring for us or creating scoring chances for that matter.”
It is true that the bottom six does need to pick it up. Ryan Spooner has helped the power-play click, but hasn’t produced much at 5-on-5. He’s primarily a playmaker but hasn’t found the back of the net in 16 games. Matt Beleskey has not scored since returning from a knee injury and has just two goals in 30 games this year while Riley Nash has three goals in 54 games.
On the fourth line, Dominic Moore produced at a rate that far exceeded most expectations earlier in the season but he hasn’t scored in 20 games. Jimmy Hayes has just two goals in 40 games.
If the B’s want to reignite the momentum that stalled out in Washington, a few other players need to chip in.