Third pairing stayed strong in series opener
Forbort, Clifton must maintain that level of play
One of the big questions the Bruins had to answer down the stretch was, with eight NHL defensemen on the roster after the acquisitions of Hampus Lindholm and Josh Brown, just who would be the odd men out.
Coach Bruce Cassidy made it clear that the top four was pretty much set with Lindholm, Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk and Brandon Carlo, however they were going to be paired up. That created a competition among four men for the two spots on the third pairing. In the end, Derek Forbort and Connor Clifton won out over Mike Reilly and Brown.
Much like it is for fourth liners, the third-pairing players are often only as good as their last game. But among the bright spots in the B’s 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes was the play of the Forbort-Clifton pairing. They moved the puck out of their zone efficiently and both of them jumped into the play at the appropriate times.
As they headed into Wednesday’s Game 2 at PNC Arena, the key was for them to maintain that level of play.
“Efficient puck movement, first and foremost,” said Cassidy on what’s most important for the pairing. “When they’re moving it our of their zone crisp and clean. It doesn’t always have to be tape to tape, but somewhere where we can go pursue it and get on the forecheck. I find that when they get stuck in their own end, because of maybe some lack of execution, that’s where I find they get running around a little bit, trying to correct their problem or put out the fire that they started. When they’re cleaner, everything comes easier for them. Because they’re good defenders. Cliffy will play hard, he’ll finish hard. Forby has a good stick and he’ll be physical when he needs to. He’ll block shots. But that takes its toll if you’re doing it over and over. So I think when they’re clean, that’s when I’ve always noticed they’ve had their best games.”
While not a ton of offense is expected from the pairing, both players are capable of chipping in when they recognize the opening.
“Forby had a great look coming in from the blue line. Cliffy had a couple of shots to the net, tippable pucks that were there on time. So they’re even adding that dimension,” said Cassidy. “That’s when they’ve had a good night. And they did. They were a good for us. And they have been for a while. I think they had one off night down the stretch, they corrected that and I think they’ve been solid for us. We had some decisions to make and they made it easier on us by the way they’ve played.”
Fix for power play?
Though the B’s scored three power-play goals in the last two regular-season games, they haven’t completely washed the stench off them from the 0-for-39 slump that preceded those three goals. In the 5-1 loss in Game 1, they went 0-for-3 and the performances got worse with each one. Part of the problem, as it was in that scoreless skid, is that they tried to force the puck into the offensive zone, usually skating right into a defender and turning it over.
Cassidy said a little dump-and-chase could solve the matter.
“We’re stubborn on our entries. We have been against a number of teams,” said Cassidy. “We worked on that (Tuesday) and hopefully it translates where you play behind them a little bit like 5-on-5 where you go get it and win the puck battle and get your offense going that way. And eventually, you hope that backs them off the blue line because they know we’re throwing it behind them and they want a head start to get first touch. That opens up a little bit of ice in front of them and that’s a little bit of the tradeoff and hopefully we can go in with possession. That’ll be the plan. (The Hurricanes) started doing that because we held the blue line as well. It was tough entries for both teams so I didn’t see a ton of good looks on the power play. That’s what we have to do. The other part is the faceoff. We’re five to their four, we’ve got to do a better job of helping (Patrice Bergeron or Charlie Coyle), whoever’s taking the draw, to recover those so we can start with the puck.”
Ullmark not problem
Cassidy expanded on his decision to go back with Linus Ullmark for Game 2 instead of rookie Jeremy Swayman.
“Swayman’s played well and we talked about that at some point we’d probably use both. But I didn’t see this being the reason why. That’s why we went back to Ullmark,” said Cassidy. “He played really well the past six weeks. The stats back that up. I thought certainly their pucks had eyes. They do put a lot of pucks at the net, so the challenge with Linus is fighting to find them and, I don’t want to say anticipate deflections, but you’ve got to stop the first shot to understand how they’re going to get some action at the net. Control your rebounds. And he did a real good job with that in the second half. So there’s no good reason not to give him another look. We need to finish some plays at the other end to give him some goal support as well. It’s tough to be in there knowing that any goal could be the difference.” …
Nick Foligno is the Bruins nominee for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, given to the player “who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in the community.”