For two periods, it looked like the Bruins were setting themselves up for a pretty good road trip. They led the Vancouver Canucks 2-0 after 40 minutes. Take care of business in the third and they would be alone atop the NHL standings and have five of six points on the trip heading into Monday’s finale in Seattle.
Sunday Skate: Do the Bruins need to shake things up?
Instead, their biggest problem this season, which was also their biggest problem in the playoffs last year, reared its ugly head once again: They couldn’t close out the game. The Bruins blew a two-goal third-period lead and lost 3-2 in overtime.
It was the third time in the last five games the Bruins have blown a multi-goal lead and ended up in overtime. They won one of them (Wednesday in Edmonton), but lost the other two. They are now 25-1-7 when leading after two periods this season. Their eight losses in such situations are the most in the NHL. Their .758 winning percentage ranks 27th in the league, better only than five non-playoff teams in the Coyotes, Islanders, Blackhawks, Sharks and Blue Jackets.
It is increasingly feeling like this is not an issue the Bruins just need to work through and figure out, but one they can’t work through and can’t figure out. Without something changing, it’s a fatal flaw. You can’t blow third-period leads in the playoffs and expect to get anywhere.
With less than two weeks to go before the March 8 trade deadline, it’s fair to wonder if the “something changing” might have to come by way of general manager Don Sweeney shaking things up.
What would that shakeup look like? That’s the hard part. There are the specific skillsets that cost them Saturday and that have cost them in these situations before.
Pavel Zacha lost two critical defensive-zone faceoffs on the Canucks’ two third-period goals. The Bruins are under 50% on faceoffs as a team this season. They only have two centers they can trust on key draws – Zacha being one of them, Saturday notwithstanding – and no one who’s dominant. Maybe the Bruins need a top center after all, because Zacha has also gone quiet offensively. Or maybe bringing back Johnny Beecher (53.9% on faceoffs) from Providence could at least help with the faceoff issues.
Then there’s the defensive breakdowns. Derek Forbort didn’t get over to Brock Boeser in time on the Canucks’ first goal. Boeser was allowed to stand in front of Jeremy Swayman to set a screen on the second, with Brandon Carlo tying up his stick but not moving the body. On Boeser’s 4-on-3 power-play winner in overtime, he again stood untouched in front for a tap-in, with Carlo unable to take away the passing lane and Forbort slow to get to Boeser.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery has highlighted net-front defense as an area of concern all season, and it remains one. Whether it’s a physical defender who can clear out bodies and win those battles down low or just someone who’s good enough defensively to prevent pucks from getting to the front in the first place, it feels like help at the back is needed.
The left side of the defense could certainly use an upgrade. Forbort continues to struggle mightily in a season that’s been plagued by injuries. Matt Grzelcyk has been inconsistent. Hampus Lindholm, their best left-shot defender, is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
It’s not all on the defense, though. Criticism of their top skill players for not being able to extend the lead, or even sustain an offensive-zone attack, is warranted, too.
The Bruins’ two goals on Saturday came from their third and fourth lines, with Jesper Boqvist scoring the first and Danton Heinen the second. After Heinen’s goal made it 2-0 midway through the second, the Bruins got way too conservative. No forecheck. No cycle game. Not nearly enough pressure in the neutral zone, and not enough help from forwards in the defensive zone.
The power play went 0-for-4, including a dud early in the third when they could’ve made it a 3-0 game. The man advantage is now 3-for-34 (8.8%) since the All-Star break. Montgomery tried shaking up his units on Saturday, moving Morgan Geekie and Jake DeBrusk to the top unit, dropping Pavel Zacha and James van Riemsdyk to the second, and even giving rookie Justin Brazeau a look on the second unit in his third NHL game. None of it worked.
Maybe Sweeney needs to find another scorer, whether it’s a center or a wing – someone who can extend leads and revive this lifeless power play.
The Bruins probably can’t address all of those areas before March 8. Heck, it will be difficult enough just to address one of them. They have no cap space, few draft picks, and a shallow prospect pool.
But that’s where the idea of a “shakeup” comes in. Maybe Sweeney has to deal a couple guys off his active roster in order to bring something different in. Change the mix. Alter the DNA.
It’s something NHL insiders Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek discussed on their “32 Thoughts” podcast on Friday, with a specific focus on the idea of trading goalie Linus Ullmark in order to upgrade other parts of the roster. The Bruins’ goaltending, for as good as it’s been overall this season, has not been able to bail them out in these third periods, because the team in front of them just isn’t doing a good enough job.
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Grzelcyk and Forbort are notable pending free agents who could be moved in order to free up the money needed to bring in players. So is DeBrusk, who has hit another cold streak at a bad time if he wants to stick around. He was terrific in a two-point effort Wednesday in his hometown of Edmonton, but otherwise has been held off the scoresheet in 11 of the last 12 games. DeBrusk had zero shots Saturday and also jumped on the ice way too early for a costly too many men penalty that set up Vancouver’s overtime winner.
Maybe it’s all too much to address right now, especially with such limited resources. Sweeney will have a lot more flexibility in the summer when the Bruins are projected to have around $26 million in cap space.
This may just have to be a ride-it-out-and-see-what-happens season. They still have the second-best record in the NHL, so it’s not like all hope is lost even if Sweeney more or less stands pat. Perhaps Montgomery and his team can still figure out the third periods internally.
But it does feel like if the Bruins are going to be true Cup contenders, something has to change, and not just a depth piece or two.