BOSTON – The Bruins power play was on fire in the final six weeks of the regular season and that is one thing that has completely carried over into the playoffs.
Buoyed by the trade acquisitions of Rick Nash and Nick Holden and the signing of Ryan Donato from Harvard, along with the talented crew they started with, the Bruins scored on 24 of 69 power plays (35 percent) in March and April while pounding teams with their electric special teams play.
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Couple that with the three-power play goals in their 5-1 win over the Maple Leafs in Game 1 on Thursday night, and the Bruins are holding a distinct special-teams advantage over just about everybody they play.
The wrinkle in Game 1 was that Boston’s second PP unit, led by David Krejci, Charlie McAvoy and David Backes, actually kicked in two of the three power-play goals, but both units kicked in a goal in the first two periods to give the Bruins a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. On the other end, the Bruins penalty kill survived two Toronto power plays in the second period as special teams really proved to be the difference.
“Ultimately [special teams] was the difference. Clearly, in the first half of the game, you don’t know how it’s going to play out at the end. They took a major [in the third], so that obviously forces you on the kill and expend a lot of energy defending as opposed to scoring,” said Bruce Cassidy. “When you’re behind, that’s a problem. But, early in the game, I thought our kill was good. We got some breaks around the net. Looked like there were some pucks there that could have went either way. I know Adam McQuaid saved one and a couple of good sticks there, and Tuukka [Rask] some big saves.
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“So, we got through it. Then our power play, we had a good entry and Marchy made a good play [on the first goal]. We had a lot of speed on the entry and that’s what you need against this kill. Then Krech [David Krejci] made a good low play and we finished around the net. That can be a little bit of a difference; we finished one, they didn’t. So it goes the other way, you don’t know how the end is going to be. From there I thought we were a good team, played the right way, and we were able to bring it home.”
Boston Bruins
That was one of the great things about each of the power play strikes; they were all different flavors. The first was a high-speed Torey Krug rush where he feathered a pass through Leafs defenders to Marchand for the top shelf, backhanded finish, and then in the second period, it was Backes mucking it up in front to smash home a Krejci centering pass for the ultimate game-winning goal.
Finally, in the third with Nazem Kadri done for the night after charging Tommy Wingels in a dangerous, dirty play, Krejci banked one off Frederik Andersen from a bad angle to put the game out of reach while making Toronto pay for their insolence.
It may be difficult for the Leafs coaching staff to break down what needs to be fixed on the PK when the B’s power-play goals were coming in all shapes and sizes.
“The power play was huge for us. The first goal in the first game is always the hardest. We were able to get one in the PP and it was huge for us,” said David Pastrnak. “Great play by Torey [Krug] and Marchy [Brad Marchand]. It was huge. Overall, special teams was good for us tonight. And that played a big part in us winning the game.”
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The power play has played a big part in Boston winning games all season and it would appear that is going to be the same song, different verse for the Black and Gold now that the Stanley Cup playoffs are underway.