In the Bruins’ Game 2 win on Monday, their second line of Taylor Hall, David Krejci and Craig Smith dominated all game long and created a bunch of great scoring chances, but it took 57 minutes before they finally broke through with a Hall goal that forced overtime.
A game like that can be one kind of frustrating -- the kind where you start to wonder if anything’s ever going to go in.
In Wednesday’s Game 3, the Krejci line had to battle through a different kind of frustration, but they once again found a way to emerge triumphant, with Hall scoring a highlight-reel goal and Smith the double-overtime game-winner in a 3-2 Bruins win.
Wednesday’s frustration for long stretches of the game was that of barely creating any scoring chances, of struggling to sustain offensive-zone time, and of having to do defend more than play offense at times.
For once, the Hall-Krejci-Smith line did not dominate at five-on-five. By shot attempts, they lost just about all of their matchups, only holding an advantage when they were out against the Anthony Mantha-Nicklas Backstrom-Tom Wilson line.
But unlike Game 2, they didn’t need a lot of chances to find the back of the net in Game 3. The two goals were two of only a handful of decent chances they actually managed to generate, but that was all they needed.
On the first, midway through the second and less than a minute after the Capitals took a 1-0 lead, Hall escaped from his defender for just a second and found open space in the slot. That was all Smith needed to get him the puck and all Hall needed to make a nifty spin move in front of the net before roofing a shot past Ilya Samsonov.
On the second, Smith did what he usually does and forechecked hard. It took a brutal miscommunication between Samsonov and Justin Schultz to open the door for Smith to steal the puck, but he put himself in position to do just that, taking advantage of the mistake and quickly tucking the game-winning goal past Samsonov.
For the rest of the game, when they were struggling to create chances, they were at least playing good enough defense to not give up a goal. Their coach, Bruce Cassidy, clearly didn't lose much faith in them, as evidenced by Krejci playing 29:27 on the night, the second-highest total on the team behind only Charlie McAvoy.
It was the kind of grind-it-out game good players need to have sometimes in the playoffs. If things aren’t coming as easy as they have in some other games, do you have the determination to keep battling and remain ready to pounce if and when you do get chances?
Hall, Krejci and Smith showed Wednesday night that they do. In the process, they turned what could have been a frustrating night for themselves into a frustrating one for the Capitals, who did a mostly good job of containing a great line, only to see that line score two huge goals anyway.
“I thought their line actually was a little frustrated tonight,” Cassidy said. “They didn’t have their usual chances. Obviously the Hall goal. They don’t need a lot. That was a big one. They stuck with it. They kept playing. They’re a good defensive line as well, so when it’s not going their way for a shift or a period, they stick with it. Krech has done that for years.
“Good for [Smith] to get in on a puck. We have a plan in place to try to play behind their D. … You don’t expect to get those, but if you keep playing behind their D and force them to break pucks out, you will get some breaks like that. He stayed on it, and good for him to have the recognition to stuff it.”