ST LOUIS – The Bruins power play had its most efficient night in the Stanley Cup playoffs in their 7-2 Game 3 blowout win when they powered up four goals on four power plays and needed just four shots to get it done.
That is perfection in efficiency when it comes to their man-advantage and it means the St. Louis Blues are in a whole mess of trouble for the rest of the Stanley Cup Final with Boston’s special teams starting to catch fire.
“It’s just the creativity and guys stepping into certain roles, certain spots, and we fill in for each other,” said Torey Krug. “When we’re on and we’re in sync, we’re a really dangerous unit.”
That’s why Blues coach Craig Berube was desperately trying to work the officials with his off-day comments about not agreeing with all of the 14 penalties called against his team in the series as he tries to keep it a 5-on-5 battle between the two teams.
If they can keep it 5-on-5, then perhaps the Blues have a chance of pushing this best-of-seven series closer to the limit despite getting their doors blown off on Saturday night. Still, if it’s left up to a Bruins power play that trails only the Mike Bossy-led 1980 New York Islanders in playoff efficiency (23-for-63 with a 35.95 success rate and a ridiculous 14-for-28 on the road in the postseason) then the Stanley Cup Final is already pretty much over.
“Can we get that play to [Patrice Bergeron] from the top, or from the half-wall? We always want to get that slot shot when we can. That’s usually the first conversation,” said Bruce Cassidy. “Can we get it through to [David Pastrnak] at the circle and how low does he need to be? That’s usually with [Brad Marchand] because he’s on the half-wall. Our net-front guy will move around, but [Jake DeBrusk’s] job remains the same on most days, retrieve pucks and screen the goalie. Then it’s shooting and presenting your stick when we’re shooting from the elbow.
“We’re lucky to have a guy like [Torey Krug]. He’s the biggest factor because he handles it more and his lateral mobility is excellent. If we need him to walk to the middle of the ice he’s very comfortable faking the pass, shooting the puck or moving right into the [half-wall] spot and interchanging with Marchand.”
Boston Bruins
That sounds like a dramatic take given that the Bruins hold just a 2-1 series lead, but Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Krug have caught fire offensively on the man-advantage. And that’s a series-changing development given their chemistry on the top unit and given what they’ve done to some of the best penalty kills in the playoffs, including the Blue Jackets in the second round.
“I think we were moving it quick. We got a couple of bounces,” said Marchand. “We won some battles and I think that was probably the difference. We’ve seen it before. We knew we could be better and it’s nice that the power play came together. But we still have some areas that we need to clean up. We were good on special teams, but we need to follow it up in [Game 4].”
The Bruins have dinged the Blues for six power-play goals in three games and they really didn’t even get cranking up to full efficiency until Krug set a Bruins record with the four points as the quarterback on the man-advantage on Saturday night.
Perhaps there’s a special teams adjustment to be made by the Blues or they can find a way to work a whole lot more discipline into their game, but St. Louis appears to be in deep, deep trouble now that Boston has their power play back at full strength.
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