Bruce Cassidy has been stressing the importance of the Bruins building their game for the playoffs. It's why he didn't allow them to use injuries as an excuse during their recent cold stretch. It's why he called out some of his players and made a couple of them healthy scratches when he saw bad habits creeping in.
While they have been safely in the playoffs for a long time, the Bruins did not want to go into them playing the kind of hockey they had been playing in recent weeks, when they had lost four of five games and allowed three or more goals in all four losses.
Message received, and message sent. The Bruins appeared to turn a corner with Saturday's 2-1 win over the Penguins. They then made it clear that wasn't just a one-off by following it up with an impressive -- and important -- 3-2 overtime win in St. Louis on Tuesday.
This was the same Blues team that beat the Bruins, 4-2, in Boston last week, and that entered Tuesday on a nine-game winning streak that saw them averaging 5.44 goals per game. They had the best offense in the NHL since the trade deadline.
If the Bruins are going to make a real run this postseason, it will probably have to be built on defense. They've been one of the best defensive teams in the NHL pretty much all season, and it's one advantage they should have over quite a few Eastern Conference playoff teams.
But that aforementioned recent tough stretch had cast some doubt on the Bruins' defense, and understandably so. Holding the Penguins -- a good offensive team, but one that was missing Evgeni Malkin -- to one goal on Saturday was nice to see.
Limiting the Blues to two goals and 22 shots on goal on Tuesday was downright impressive. The Bruins held the Blues to zero shots off the rush at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick. They outshot the Blues 32-17 at 5-on-5. They won several key matchups.
While the Blues' top line of Pavel Buchnevich, Robert Thomas and Vladimir Tarasenko did score both St. Louis goals (one from Buchnevich on the power play, one on a nice deflection by Thomas), the Bruins held those three to just four shots on goal at 5-on-5. The Bruins' second line of Taylor Hall, Erik Haula and Curtis Lazar was their most common matchup, and the Bruins outshot the Blues 5-1 during their minutes against each other.
The Bruins' top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk got the better of the Blues' matchup line of Brandon Saad, Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron for the second time in a week. While shots were virtually even, the Bruins got the lone head-to-head goal when Jake DeBrusk buried his own rebound early in the second period. DeBrusk, by the way, also set up Charlie McAvoy's overtime winner.
This is the kind of defense the Bruins are capable of playing when they're on their game, and it's the kind they'll need to play against top offensive teams in the playoffs.
"We checked very well, limited their chances," Cassidy said, via NHL.com. "Their power play got us there. We were a little late with our pressure, but all in all, I thought we did a real good job against a good offensive team. That's our game. When we play like that, we're hard to play against, so that's a real positive."
Behind the Bruins' team defense, Jeremy Swayman looked good for a second straight game. With Linus Ullmark out until at least the weekend, the Bruins needed Swayman to snap out of his late March/early April funk. It's looking like he has. In two starts since Ullmark went down, he's now 2-0-0 with a .935 save percentage. He had little chance on either Blues goal on Tuesday.
Beyond the way they played, Tuesday's win was also important for the Bruins in the standings. With the Lightning losing on Tuesday, it pulled them within one point of Tampa Bay for third place in the Atlantic Division. It also kept them two points ahead of the Penguins (whom they play again on Thursday) and three ahead of the Capitals in the battle for the first wild card spot. That's important because whoever finishes as the second wild card gets a first-round series against the hottest team in the NHL, the Florida Panthers.
