On Sunday the Penguins imposed their will on the Boston. Using their superior team speed to dictate play, they enjoyed most of the prime scoring chances while holding the Bruins in check. The result, a crisp playoff-style 1-0 victory.
Last night the Bruins returned the favor. Heeding coach Bruce Cassidy’s call to play a “grittier game,” the visitors clogged the shooting lanes to the tune of 21 blocked shots and allowed the Pens precious few second-chance opportunities.
Kind of an on-ice version of The Empire Strikes Back.
The B’s banged bodies as well, outhitting us by a whopping 50-25 margin and pretty much knocking us around all over the ice. While the Pens tried to respond…Teddy Blueger shocked onlookers by dropping the mitts with Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon…let’s face it, it’s not our game. At least not with the lineup as presently constructed. More on that in a bit.
The Pens held serve through a scoreless opening period that in many ways mirrored Sunday’s affair. Boston took the lead on an innocuous looking backhander off the rush by David Krejci late in the second frame, snapping Tristan Jarry’s shutout streak at 125:36. Then the Bruins ramped up the physical play in the final period (a ridiculous 18-6 edge in hits) and methodically took control.
After softening our guys up with four hits in just over a minute they grabbed on a 2-0 lead midway through the period on a garbage goal by Brad Marchand. Again, nothing fancy here. The Bruins just drove straight to the net and cashed in, swatting aside would-be checkers like so many flies at a Fourth of July picnic.
At 12:18, Taylor Hall streaked up the ice and beat Jarry from the high slot to make it 3-0. For those who were counting, it was the B’s third goal off the rush. Jeff Carter beat Tuukka Rask with a laser of his own at 17:39, but it was pretty much academic by then.
I’ll let Cassidy sum up.
“There was a lot to like tonight from everybody to be honest with you,” he said. “We played a good, determined game. … Our top guys did the finishing tonight. Our bottom guys did a lot of the dirty work, the grunt work. The physicality, it’s a good formula for us.”
The battle lines are drawn. You hearin’ this, Sully?
Puckpourri
The Bruins held the edge in shots on goal (31-26), 5v5 scoring chances (21-14) and high danger scoring chances (8-3). They won 57 percent of the draws.
In the battle of top lines, Boston’s “Perfection Line” dominated. Sidney Crosby’s unit was a combined minus-nine. Our top defensive pairing of Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin, a minus-three. “Tanger” was caught flatfooted and fishing for the puck on the Bruins’ second goal.
The Pens finished the season series at 3-4-1.
The loss dropped us into second place in the MassMutual East with 67 points, one point behind our next foe Washington. The Caps have a game in hand. The Islanders are in third (63 points), followed by the Bruins (62) and the Rangers, still on the cusp of the playoff chase with 58 points.
Opinyinz
Overall coach Mike Sullivan’s done a terrific job this year. But there’s one bone of contention for me and I’m going to pick at it.
He seems unwilling to adjust his lineup to match our opponents. I get it to an extent…he wants our foes to adjust to us instead. But it’s no secret how the Bruins, and likely the Capitals and Islanders, are going to play us in a short series. They’re going to come at us physically.
I fully realize we’re not going to be a heavy team…it’s just not our style. But we don’t have to be toothless, either. Anthony Angello did a solid job when given the chance (51 hits in 19 games of limited ice time). And he’s not a plow horse…he can skate and play a little.
Am I to believe twice-waived Colton Sceviour’s that superior?
I think not.
Sam Lafferty possesses speed and sand, and he’s won over 52 percent of his draws. Hulking Radim Zohorna did nothing during his brief cameo to suggest he doesn’t belong, and he can play center as well as wing. Yet we continue to dress Milquetoast-ish Mark Jankowski on the premise that he’s a good defensive player.
Sadly, it continues an ingrained pattern of behavior for Sullivan. Bigger players and/or ones with an aggressive bent are constantly marginalized and shunted to the shadows.
As a result, you have Crosby (and later Blueger) trying to avenge Lauzon’s hard second-period hit and subsequent cross-check on Jake Guentzel…which could’ve had catastrophic results.
For goodness sake, Sully, deploy a lineup that gives us a little protection and pushback. Our Cup hopes could be riding on it.
Hey all,
Just to reinforce, our top guys really got cooked by the Bruins last night. Here are the Corsi For (CF) and Corsi Against (CA) numbers.
Dumoulin: CF-2, CA-20
Letang: CF-4, CA-20
Crosby: CF-4, CA-15
Rust: CF-4, CA-14
Guentzel: CF-4, CA-13
Yikes. Dominated. Looks like some adjustments are necessary…
Rick
Rick
Same old, Same old – we continue to allow our best players to defend for
themselves. If the role was reversed and we cross-checked anyone on
the Bruins team like the Guentzel hit “we would pay” guaranteed.
i know the Bruins out hit us last night by a huge margin but to me it was
nothing like we’ll see if we face them in the playoffs. Lord, you have
McAvoy running around laying cheap hits on our guys. SMH
Hey Mike,
More importantly, everyone is getting a good look at how to play the Pens if you want to beat them.
Hey Mike,
Whether it’s a conscious choice or not, it is amazing the extent to which Sullivan seems to filter out bigger and/or more aggressive players.
I’m sure it’s due in part to his comfort level with the players. Sceviour and Jankowski are veterans and perhaps in his mind, a little more bomb-proof (and can be deployed in a broader range of situations, pk, etc.), where kids like Angello and Zohorna are perhaps seen as more of a wild card with limited overall situational value.
And, yes, the young players may be a little more mistake prone (Lafferty). But they can also provide spark and grind, along with a shot of youthful enthusiasm.
I, too, worry about what happens when teams really start to come after us physically. We’re not the most durable bunch around.
Rick
Hey Rick,
I hear you about the conventional mind set of “Veterans are more bomb-proof” and in the case of Carter – really valid. In the case of Jankowski and Sceviour?
Let’s look at what they have shown in the Playoffs (5 on 5)
Jankowski – 10 GP, 77:53 TOI, 0 G, 0 A, 0 Pts, CF 61, CA 77, TGF 1, TGA 4, O-Zone Start% 69.6%
Ten games isn’t that great of a sample size but no Pnts, a Negative Corsi, and a Negative +/- when nearly he nearly never started in his own zone? That may look good to Sully (I don’t put anything past him) but that doesn’t look good to me.
Sceviour – 19 GP, 190:53 TOI, 3 G, 3 A, 6 Pnts, CF 192, CA 178, 8 TGF, 5 TGA, 56.5% O-Zone Start %. Certainly better than Jankowski’s numbers but again lots of O-Zone starts.
What if he has to play in his own D-zone? Who knows? However there may be some clues out there. Sceviour built all of his positive numbers in Dallas. Again the sample size is small with Fla when he had pretty much no O-Zone Starts but he had no points and a Negative Corsi and +/-.
These 2 would only see TOI for me as a last resort, after all other veterans and kids where either injured or put up numbers worse than they have done so far in the playoffs.
Let’s not forget Jankoswki went 22 Games without a point this season and although Sceviour didn’t go as long without a point, he went longer without a Goal (26GP)
There comes a point where you have to try something different, particularly before your boss (Hextall) has to try something different.