“To score goals we have to hit the net more often and force him to make saves and control rebounds.
Maybe it's because Sean Kuraly, used in Ritchie's place to end the Carolina series, wasn't healthy enough for the heavier lifting of third-line duty. It’s pointless to ask what would have happened if Tuukka Rask was in net for the Bruins because that’s not going to happen in this series. Bergeron has zero points in each of the last three games and just five shots on net, Marchand has just one even strength point and four shots on net in each of the last three games and Pastrnak has just one even strength assist in the last three games, despite 13 shots on net.Pastrnak missed a wide-open net in the third period after a sweet Bergeron dish that could have eventually made it a one-goal game late in the third period. I'm sure Ritchie wants to work through these struggles, but it's seemingly only getting worse. This one I thought we did, we had our energy level and we were competing hard, winning our share of races, winning pucks,” said Bruce Cassidy. You should have expected more from the Bruins' decision-makers.Let's revisit the trade, which in many ways doomed the Bruins' season.
Danton Heinen was a solid player having a down year; he needed to be the third best player on that third line.Short on cap space, Don Sweeney sent a first-round pick and a prospect to Anaheim for them to take most of David Backes' contract and send Ondrej Kase back. That is all we can control right now.”It’s a nice sentiment from Coyle, but it’s not about mentality when it comes to the Bruins and Lightning. Head coach: Bruce Cassidy. The power play didn't score once, and the Bruins' top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak tallied only one point (a Bergeron assist) in the three games. But so much remains the same, including Tampa’s strengths of depth and skill, and Boston’s sheer inability to score even strength which has been their downfall in each of the last three postseasons, including this one.After Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak were the driving forces behind the offense in the Game 1 win, they have been effectively contained during even strength play just as they were two years ago vs. Tampa Bay’s big defenders. It put us in a bigger hole and we started working our way out of it, but if you're going to put yourself in a hole you got to score goals to win games.
Ideally, the Bruins could have used John Moore or somebody else to create more cap space, then had a trade partner retain money on an established winger, because really, Kase and Ritchie were both question marks.Maybe it's because Heinen is kind of a boring player and maybe it's because Bruins fans incorrectly think they lost the Cup last year because of a lack of physicality, but the Ritchie acquisition was celebrated. And the Lightning are playing seriously shorthanded with Steve Stamkos and Ryan McDonagh as significant missing presences that have both been injured for the bulk of the series. It should have been met with skepticism.Since he's been in the lineup this postseason, it's been clear that Ritchie was not a useful piece. The Boston Bruins will begin the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a first-round matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes.You probably remember these teams meeting in the 2019 Eastern Conference Final, a series the B's swept before losing to the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.This year's series should be much more competitive because the Hurricanes are not only better than they were in 2019, but they're also riding the momentum of a qualifying round sweep of the New York Rangers.While the Hurricanes enter the playoffs playing some of their best hockey of the season, the Bruins come into Round 1 after three lackluster performances in the NHL's round robin. They took advantage of it and that's what good teams do. They took advantage of it and that's what good teams do. The 2020-21 Boston Bruins schedule consist of playing each opponent 4 times in their own division for a total of 28 games. That was going to be part of the message to the B’s players headed into Game 5, but it sure feels like it’s a little too late at this point.In a must-win Game 4, Bergeron, Marchand and David Krejci combined for two shots on net and Jake DeBrusk’s power play goal in the third was Boston’s only source of offense.That’s just not going to cut it regardless of what’s going on with the defense and the goaltending.“We had an opportunity to even the series. We went up there, they beat us in our building, both physical, both started to develop some animosity in those games.