Boston Bruins: 3 stars of first-round series against the Capitals
The Boston Bruins started off Round 1 slow, losing to the Washington Capitals in overtime by a score of 3-2 in Game 1. However, the B’s quickly figured things out and won the next four games to down the Caps in five games and advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs where they’ll take on either the New York Islanders or Pittsburgh Penguins.
There’s no doubt that beating a team that just won the Stanley Cup three seasons ago takes a whole team effort, especially the last two games of the series where Boston dominated 4-1 and 3-1, however there were a few players that stood out for most, or even the entirety, of the series.
Boston Bruins 3 Stars of First Round
Third Star: Charlie McAvoy – Defenseman
Charlie McAvoy was undoubtedly the B’s best defenseman this season. He played 51 of 56 games and finished the season with five goals and 25 assists with a +22 rating. He’s definitely going to get some Norris Trophy consideration.
McAvoy continued his excellent season in Boston first-round series against the Caps.
Once again, McAvoy was the go-to D-man for the Black and Gold as he averaged over 27 minutes of ice time per game. He also continued his strong playmaking performance, averaging an assist a game and putting up three powerplay assists in the B’s dominant Game 4 victory.
McAvoy’s five assists are actually the most among defensemen this postseason.
Additionally, McAvoy finished the series with 15 shots on goal, nine blocked shots, 12 hits, four takeaways, just three giveaways, and as a +4. He was truly a monster this series and a huge reason why the Black and Gold were able to shutdown the Caps and advance to the second round.
Boston Bruins 3 Stars of First Round
Second Star: Brad Marchand – Left Wing
During the regular season, Brad Marchand was the best forward, and overall skater, for the B’s. In 53 games this season, Marchy put up 29 goals and 40 assists for 69 points. His 29 goals this season surpassed his 28 from last season, even though he played 17 less games this year.
Marchand, like most of Boston, started off the series slow. He struggled in Game 1 as he looked like he was trying to do too much and consistently turned over the puck trying to make a highlight-reel play instead of the smart and easy play.
However, Marchand quickly turned it around as he, and his linemates, played much better in Game 2 and continued their strong play throughout the rest of the series.
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After going pointless in the first game of the series, Marchand would scores at least one goal in the next three games (Games 2 to 4), helping his team take a commanding 3-1 lead over the Caps.
At the end of the series, Marchand finished with three goals, including the overtime game-winner in Game 2, the game-tying goal on the powerplay to force overtime in Game 3, and the opening goal on the powerplay in Game 4.
All three of Marchy’s goals this series were huge and served a purpose. One won the game, one tied the game, and one set the tone and took the lead. Without Marchand, the Black and Gold could very well be in the Caps’ position and out of the playoffs instead of being one step closer to the Stanley Cup.
Boston Bruins 3 Stars of First Round
First Star: Tuukka Rask – Goaltender
After struggling a bit in this four starts last postseason and then leaving the Toronto Bubble for a family emergency, Tuukka Rask‘s ability and loyalty were once again questioned.
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However, despite the noise around his name, Rask was very good during the regular season posting a 2.29 goals-against average (GAA), .913 save percentage (SV%), two shutouts, and .667 quality start percentage (QS%) in 24 games.
Rask continued his strong play and elevated it to the next level in the first round against Washington, saving 159 of the 169 shots he faced (.941 SV%) and having just a 1.81 GAA. Rask made at least 35 saves in three of the five games and only had one start not count as a quality start (Game 1).
Furthermore, despite what some may say, he didn’t let in any goals that would be considered soft. He may the easy saves and he made most of the difficult ones (of course not the 10 shots that went in but these were all either deflections or scored on 2-on-1’s).
Overall, Rask was huge for the B’s when he needed to be and is just one of the reasons why they were able to shutdown the Caps’ high-powered offense. While rookie Jeremy Swayman was phenomenal when called upon during the regular season, there’s no telling if he would’ve been able to handle the pressure of Games 1 to 3 as Rask did.
Boston Bruins 3 Stars of First Round
Honorable Mentions: Bergeron, Pastrnak, Hall, and Clifton
Patrice Bergeron – Center
Patrice Bergeron was vital to the success of Boston in this series. He recorded three goals and an assist in the series, including two goals in Game 5 (the first turning to be the game-winning goal). His one assist was very important to the series, as it was the primary assist on Marchand’s game-tying goal in Game 3.
To go along with his strong offensive performance, Bergeron was outstanding defensively. He won over 58% of his face-offs, blocked six shots, and put up a four to one takeaway to giveaway ratio.
David Pastrnak – Right Wing
David Pastrnak has been struggling to bury pucks in the net for the last couple of months or so, but he finally seemed to snap out of his funk towards the end of this series.
While he didn’t score a goal until Game 4, he was still finding ways to contribute as he registered at an assist in each of the first two games of the series — the first being the primary assist on Nick Ritchie’s powerplay goal to tie Game 1.
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Pasta would go pointless in Game 3, but you could tell he was turning a corner. He finally broke out in Game 4 and continued his hot streak, scoring a goal in each of Game 4 and Game 5 and also registering an assist in each game.
His powerplay goal in Game 4 would end up being the game winner and his goal in Game 5 opened the scoring for the game.
Taylor Hall – Left Wing
Might I remind you that Taylor Hall is a Boston Bruin? Because if you didn’t know before, you definitely should know after this series.
Although Hall only recored two goals and an assist during the series, all three points came at very important times. His first goal was the game-tier of Game 2 and helped the B’s get to overtime where they ultimately won, and his second goal tied Game 3 and was just nasty. His assist came on Matt Grzelcyk’s powerplay goal in Game 4 that put Boston back up by three goals.
Connor Clifton – Defenseman
Although Connor Clifton didn’t record a point during the series he was extremely important to Boston in the first round.
Clifton wasn’t in the lineup to start the series, as Jeremy Lauzon started next to Kevan Miller. However, Lauzon was injured in Game 1 and missed the rest of the series. Clifton stepped in for Lauzon and played his weak side — like he has done several times before during the regular season.
Then, when Kevan Miller went down due to a high and late hit from Caps’ defenseman Dmitry Orlov, Clifton switched over to his strong side and played next to Jarred Tinordi.
Overall, whether it was weak side or strong side, or next to Miller or Tinordi, Clifton played extremely well this series. He finished Round 1 as a +3, six blocks, nine hits, three takeaways, and NO giveaways.
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Once again, hockey is a team sport and winning games, and especially series, is a full team effort and cannot be one on individual effort. The Bruins played great as a team, but there were still some individuals that stood out more than others.