Playoff hopes start at top
No. 1 line needs to shake recent slump
With up to a half-dozen rookies potentially in the lineup, and the health of No. 3 center Riley Nash an open question, the last thing you’d think the Bruins would be worried about going into tomorrow’s Game 1 against Toronto is the performance of their top forward line.
Through the course of the season, several visiting coaches dubbed the trio of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak — all 30-plus goalscorers — the best line in the National Hockey League.
And for the record, the B’s espoused nothing but positive thoughts with regard to the top unit moving forward into the new season.
But it’s hard not to look at the numbers down the stretch and wonder what the heck is going on with the usually combustible combo. In the final six games after their emotional Garden victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the quintessential twoway center was a very un-Bergeron-like minus-7 with two goals (one on the power play and another in the helter-skelter 6-on-5 situation in Philadelphia) and two power-play assists. Pastrnak was minus-5 with three goals and an assist, all on the power play. And Marchand, a legitimate Hart Trophy candidate for much of the season, had no goals with one power-play assist and was minus-8.
Fatigue, especially the mental variety, has been pointed to by coach Bruce Cassidy, and it’s hard not to give that credence, especially for the two wingers who helped carry the team offensively when Bergeron was out for most of a very busy March. Cassidy said yesterday he even toyed with giving the unit another day off the ice, as well as some defensemen who have played heavy minutes, but he said everyone pretty much wanted to get back at it with the way the regular season ended in a loss to Florida.
And with a much larger positive body of evidence to go with from his top unit, the coach is expecting the line will be ready to perform at a high level again come tomorrow.
“On the surface, you look at it and the numbers aren’t great. We know that and accept that. But I believe they’re all very good to elite players, however you want to categorize them. So I believe they will find their game quickly (tomorrow),” Cassidy said. “I believe some of it was mental. They played a lot. I’m not using that as an excuse. I’m just telling you what happened over the last little stretch, just getting into the playoffs and getting through the last few games into the second season. I believe it will rejuvenate them and they’ll be ready to go.”
Bergeron, saying the day off Monday was beneficial, was only interested in what lies ahead.
“The rest is always good. I was out for four weeks, but my wingers weren’t, so for them it was good,” Bergeron said. “That being said, we’re looking forward and not thinking too much about that and overthinking stuff. We’re here for Game 1 and getting ready for (tomorrow). That’s all we can really concentrate on right now.”
What makes the slump so rare is not so much that the 5-on-5 points have dried up in the past six games, but rather how much the line has had to play in its own end, which is where the recovery has to start, said Marchand immediately after the B’s regular-season finale.
“If we’re a little bit better there, we’ll be better offensively and be controlling the play a little better than we have,” he said. “But it’s a completely different season, the playoffs, and we’re not concerned about it.”
If the unit draws the assignment of the Auston Matthews line — Cassidy has not always gone for the hard match, but the time he used it against Matthews in the win against the Leafs on Feb. 3, it worked splendidly — it could get the trio in the right, 200-foot frame of mind. And another aspect that should help lighten the mental load is the expected return of Rick Nash to the second unit. With the lateseason injuries, the B’s had become a bit top-heavy, and the strain showed.
“It (helps) everyone. Any time you have a talent like that, it’s nice to see him in practice today, and he looked really good,” Bergeron said. “Obviously, the more the better, right? I always talk abut the depth, and he definitely adds to that, for sure.”
Maybe the Bergeron line will regain what it had lost by tomorrow. I’d bet it does.
But if it doesn’t, the B’s chances of beating Toronto are slim.