Going into the Olympic break, the Boston Bruins' power play was clicking. Since the Olympic break, the power play has been bad, very bad. In fact, if they end up missing the playoffs, it'll be one of the main reasons why.
Tuesday night at the TD Garden, the Bruins hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs in what was a game where they needed two points, in any fashion. Instead, the Black and Gold came out and laid an egg in a brutal 4-2 loss.
Boston's power play went 1-for-5, but it was a stretch in the second period that let them down big time. Leading 1-0, the Bruins had three straight power plays, only to come up empty. To compound matters, the Maple Leafs tied the game on a Matthew Knies shorthanded goal and had a breakaway on the next Boston man advantage that saw Jeremy Swayman make a big save.
Meanwhile, Boston struggled with zone entries, passing the puck, and turning it over. When they were able to get shots and good looks, Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz made some big saves. After the game, head coach Marco Sturm didn't really want to talk about the power play, while his leaders in the locker room did.
Bruins players say what all fans were thinking about their power play vs. Toronto while Marco Sturm plays it off
Boston's only power play goal summed up the night. David Pastrnak ripped a slap shot that hit a leaping Charlie McAvoy and bounced past Stolarz into the bet to cut the deficit in the third period to 3-2. They never got closer. Elias Lindholm and McAvoy acknowledged the power play failures.
“Our power play was terrible,'' said Lindholm. “It killed the momentum, and obviously, they got way more chances and momentum from that.”
“Just turnovers, just forcing stuff is what it felt like,'' said McAvoy. "Once we get in, and we have possession, obviously, we did have a couple grade A’s that he made some unreal saves on. But when we get in, and we do settle it down, you know, when we get into our sets, we just have to execute.
" I think (Toronto) were just trying to turn defense into offense. I don’t think they cleared any of them, they just took them the other way. They had more chances than we did on our power play, so that’s not okay at all.”
What about Sturm?
“I’m not going to pick on the power play today,'' said Sturm. "Overall, the whole game was full of disappointment. I think power play was one of them.”
I'm sorry, but not picking on the power play is pretty much coaching malpractice. The power play was a big part of what the Bruins were doing before the break. Now, it's going to cost them a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and Sturm wants to brush it off like it's not a big deal. It is.
Sure, there are going to be other reasons for the Bruins' undoing post-Olympic break, but the power play's struggles are right at the top of the list, whether Sturm wants to acknowledge it or not.