What the Hell Was That? A Look at the Bruins’ Early Playoff Exit
Besides “Holy $#!%, Marchand,” the thing I yelled most while sitting on my couch watching the Boston Bruins this postseason was “What the hell was that?”
It is an understatement to say that the Bruins’ playoff performance was not up to snuff - especially when it came to their second-round series defeat to the New York Islanders in six games. Boston was a team that seemed destined for a deep run. So what happened? What the hell was that?
It is by no means the whole story but injuries played a role. Losing Kevan Miller and Curtis Lazar had an impact, but the two played with a lot of physicality. It seemed like only a matter of time in playoff hockey before the two encountered some bumps and bruises (or worse in their case). With that said, the biggest blows were Tuukka Rask not being at 100% and the loss of Brandon Carlo.
I don’t need to dive deep into how big a goaltender’s impact is on a playoff series so I’ll skip right on to Carlo: I believe Carlo remains to be one of the most underrated players on the current Bruins squad.
This postseason Carlo logged an average of over 22 minutes per game in eight contests which was a notch up from what has been expected of him in past playoff runs. Before Cal Clutterbuck ended the 24-year-old’s season, Carlo looked good. Could Carlo have tipped the scales in the Islanders series? We’ll never know, but he certainly would have had a bigger impact than someone like Jarred Tinordi. Carlo was defensively sound and one of the few Bruins to make decent passes out of his own zone.
Speaking of zone exits, what the hell was that? It all started in Game 1 of the B’s series with the Washington Capitals. The Caps used one of their main strengths - size - and were able to completely overwhelm Boston’s defense with hard forechecks. Bracing for impact, the Bruins blue liners would consistently rifle off inaccurate passes that led to extended time in their own end. What’s worse is that it would rarely lead to a clean transition.
As a writer, I suppose I shouldn’t be the one to say “take a hit to make the play” for I certainly wouldn’t be able to take a hit from Tom Wilson or Garnet Hathaway. But as a collective unit the Bruins defense simply took the hit - they weren’t making any plays. This pattern could also be found in the Islanders series. It came to the point where the Islanders didn’t even need to throw hard hits on the forecheck. The Bruins were already hearing footsteps. They’d send the puck aimlessly around the boards anyway.
In addition to their subpar transition game, the bottom-six was invisible during the Bruins' abbreviated run. What the hell was that?
The fourth line (who I dubbed the Czar Wagaly LaKurner line for a laugh) consisted of Lazar, Sean Kuraly, and Chris Wagner. After the acquisition of Lazar at the trade deadline, the unit looked like they could be one of the better fourth lines in the league. Whether it was their physical play, ability to create scoring chances or simply getting some time in the offensive zone, the unit provided the team with some much-needed energy during the final stretch of the regular season. I, and many others, fully expected this to boil over into the playoffs. Alas, we know what the result was - nothing.
Although they were able to create some chances here and there, the third line had a similar fate. Most of this was led by centerman Charlie Coyle who consistently had at least decent - if not, good - performances night in and night out. Jake DeBrusk, on his right wing, certainly looked like a player fighting for a starting role. He was noticeably leaving it all on the ice, playing a physical brand of hockey and skating hard. But effort is one thing and executing is another. He didn’t capitalize on many of his opportunities.
That brings me to Nick Ritchie whose lone goal came on the power play. For a player who tallied 26 points in 56 regular-season games and took home the Seventh Player Award, this was certainly an underwhelming performance. While part of this is due to his demotion to the third line after Taylor Hall was acquired at the deadline, I believe this showed us that a lot of Ritchie’s success came from playing alongside more skilled players such as David Krejci and Craig Smith, along with more time on the powerplay.
Looking ahead to this offseason it’s clear that signing Hall, Krejci, and Rask is the priority, but the Bruins have other sectors of their lineup to improve. Boston either has to hope the team’s prospects are ready to take on bottom-six roles and bring consistency to the blue line, or somehow squeak some proven talent under the salary cap.
However, at least for the next week or so, I will continue to ask myself...What the hell was that?