There is a cliché about the need of your best players to be your best players. With one exception, that’s why the Bruins beat the Hurricanes in Game 1 of their first round series.
The exception was David Pastrnak’s terrible turnover on the power play to give Karolina a short-handed goal, but let’s focus on the positive: The Bergeron line scored two goals – including the game’s winner in double overtime – in a game they most played against perhaps the most dangerous line in the league at the moment. Their performance will make headlines, but David Krejci was the best player on the ice.
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If the Bruins get dominance from their top six and the usual performances of their back end and goal tending, then they will be good enough to defeat the Hurricanes in a series. Philly? Tampa? Different story, but if the Bergeron line exposes the Aho line and Krejci is able to carry Jake DeBrusk and Ondrej Kase, we can at least decipher our concerns about the Bs in the first round.
If DeBrusk and Kase bury the opportunities that Krejci created for them, the Bruins will have at least a second line, which remains an important, important question for them. The third line needs some work (more on that below; think who should sit down?), But Bruins fans should be very encouraged by what they saw from Boston’s top six.
As they build on what we saw Wednesday, the Bruins are in business. Then maybe we can ask for other things, like a power play that actually has a pulse.
Beware, before we put on our Paul Pierce hats and explain the series after a game: The Bergeron line smoked Tampa’s Brayden Point line in Game 1 of the second round a few years ago, then Point went away for the rest of the series as the Bs fell in five games. That is to say this: This series is not over.
BROWNS ARE THE ONE
The Bruins apparently stunk the joint at the round robin and were hardly apologetic at the end. When they came out, played the playoffs in the first game of the playoffs, blew a lead in the third period, then lost in overtime? Hoo boy.
Led by young stars, the Hurricanes are better served to physically bounce back from a long game like Game 1. Had Carolina found a way to win, they might have already had the Bruins on their heels. Plus, we – and the Bruins themselves, deep down – would be wondering if they could snap out of their backlash.
FOR SIGHT: 2 Us, 2 Ks, 2 PLAYING OR NOT 2 PLAYING?
The Hurricanes did not have Sami Vatanen or Justin Williams for Game 1, as the players got the blankets “unfit to participate” using designation teams for everything. The great absence was there from Vatanen, who had been a top pairing defender for them until Dougie Hamilton returned to the lineup on Wednesday. Hamilton’s return was meant to put Carolina over the top at the back end, and if Vatans can play Wednesday, Carolina will have a stronger lineup than we saw in Game 1.
The Bruins have two lineup questions they need to ask themselves: Does Tuukka Rask play a back-to-back that included double overtime and should Nick Ritchie sit?
Let’s first answer the easy question: Ritchie needs to sit down. He was passive throughout the game, which cost the Bruins twice. He’s certainly not there for his speed or skill, so if he’s going to be such an easy beat in puck field battles, he’s doing nothing but harm to the team. Put Karson Kuhlman in the lineup and flip Anders Bjork to the other side as needed.
As for Rask, Bruce Cassidy told Game 1 that he did not feel the Boston goalkeeper was too busy on Wednesday, and that with no need to travel, it would be much easier to play a goalkeeper on a back-to-back then in non -bubble times. I get that, but I would still go with Jaroslav Halak, if I consider that there is another potential back-to-back in games 5 and 6.
You would absolutely want to go Rask in both games, so split this one up if you really plan to make a deep run.
