Coach sees bright side on Bergeron
BRUINS NOTEBOOK
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy addressed two pressing issues going into tonight’s Game 5 against the Maple Leafs at the Garden.
The Bruins lead the bestof-seven first-round playoff series 3-1 and can close out Toronto with a win.
The top matter on Cassidy’s mind was the status for first-line center Patrice Bergeron, who was announced as a finalist for a fifth Selke Trophy on Wednesday then a pregame scratch for Thursday’s Game 4 win at the Air Canada Centre. Bergeron was listed with an upperbody injury, and Riley Nash moved up to the first line with wingers Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.
“He skated (yesterday) morning, so that’s a positive,” said Cassidy following an abbreviated practice at Warrior Ice Arena.
“I’ve said that all along when guys are skating they are closer to playing and so we’ll make that decision tomorrow on that,” the coach said. “We won’t rule him out and won’t rule him definitely in.”
The second item on Cassidy’s agenda was the pending return of second-line center Nazem Kadri to the Maple Leafs. Kadri drew a three-game suspension for driving Bruins winger Tommy Wingels head-first into the boards in Game 1.
“He is a good player, a 30-goal scorer and he plays hard,” said Cassidy. “He plays a 200-foot game and they use him to shutdown, they use him on the power play at the bumper, so he is a pretty good player for them.
“With him out of the lineup I’m sure they are not happy. But with him back in we’ll game plan accordingly and go from there.”
Loss of power
The Bruins’ first powerplay unit, which has consisted mostly of Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, Rick Nash and Torey Krug, appeared unstoppable in the Game 1 and Game 2 wins at the Garden.
David Backes, David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk also combined on power-play goals before the scene shifted north of the border.
The Maple Leafs managed to avoid hurting themselves in their two home games and that proved to be their best means of limiting the Bruins’ power play.
Toronto had only one penalty in Game 3 and did not commit an infraction in Thursday’s Game 4.
“I felt we did a lot in Game 3 to generate offense whether we deserved penalties of not,” said Cassidy. “I thought both games up there were fairly well officiated.”
Finding Charlie
Cassidy thinks rookie defenseman Charlie McAvoy has played well in spurts but hasn’t put together a complete game in the series.
After missing two weeks following a heart procedure, McAvoy missed several weeks in March when he suffered a sprained MCL during a win over Montreal. Before the playoffs started, McAvoy was reunited with Zdeno Chara as the team’s top defensive pairing.
In his four playoff games, McAvoy as averaged 22:05 of ice time that includes work on the power play and penalty kill. He has one assist and a plus-one against the Leafs. McAvoy had a plus-20 in 63 regular-season games.