After the Bruins' overtime loss in Game 2, coach Bruce Cassidy said he was frustrated that his team's power play hadn't been able to score after the Oskar Sundqvist hit that knocked Matt Grzelcyk out of the game, or after Jaden Schwartz' goaltender interference penalty for knocking over Tuukka Rask later in the game.
The Blues have clearly ramped up the physicality and in Game 3 they resorted to more head-hunting hits (most notably from Sammy Blais on David Backes and Jaden Schwartz on Charlie McAvoy) and contact with Rask (most notably from David Perron on multiple occasions).
While most of those plays somehow went uncalled, the Bruins did make sure they sent the message Cassidy wanted them to send: that if the Blues are going to take penalties, they're fully capable of making them pay.
The Bruins went a perfect 4-for-4 on the power play in their dominant 7-2 win Saturday night, and they only needed four shots on goal to score those four goals.
Game 3 marked the seventh straight game the Bruins have scored a power-play goal, but this was a clear step up over the first two games of this series, when the Bruins were a combined 2-for-10. Not that a 20% conversion rate is bad by any means -- it's basically league-average -- but a Bruins man advantage that's now up to 35.9% in the playoffs was capable of better.
That has kind of been a theme throughout the playoffs, though. The Bruins' power play hasn't always looked the smoothest, but it has generally still found a way to score at least once, and then every few games it explodes and totally takes over like it did Saturday.
It's like a quick-strike offense in football. They might not be putting together methodical 12-play drives, they might have to punt a few times, but then they connect on a couple deep balls and it's all over.
Never was that lightning-strike danger more evident than the four-goals-on-four-chances-on-four-shots effort Saturday night.
Torey Krug finds Patrice Bergeron's stick for a perfect redirect off a faceoff win. Krug feeds David Pastrnak down low and he patiently waits out Jordan Binnington before flipping in a backhander. Krug uses a defender for a screen and scores. Then Krug sets up Marcus Johansson for a one-timer.
If you're thinking, 'Huh, that's a lot of Krug,' well you're right. The Bruins' power-play quarterback scored or had the primary assist on all four power-play goals in Game 3, becoming the first Bruin in history to register four points in a Stanley Cup Final game.
Not bad, @ToreyKrug.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/ZUee67ubhG
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) June 2, 2019"I think it was just a night where everything went our way," Krug said. "We tried to be more decisive and assertive, getting pucks to the net off one or two passes. The fact that we knew someone was going to shoot the puck off one or two passes, it allowed our guys to just get to the net, in front of the goaltender's eyes. ... Assertiveness and good decision-making and our skill guys came through."
Now that the Blues have seen the Bruins' power play at its most ruthless, it will be interesting to see if they ease up a little in order to avoid penalties, or if they continue to push it physically and risk gifting the B's more goals.
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