BEDFORD, Mass. — For the second year in a row, the Boston Bruins are waving their pom-poms before Game 7 instead of beating themselves up for giving up a 3-1 series lead. They have no other choice.
“You come into the season and you ask each of us we’re going to play Game 7 in the first round to move on, we would all jump at that opportunity,” Charlie Coyle said during the team’s touchdown Friday afternoon in Hanscom. Field. “It doesn’t matter how we got to that Game 7. It doesn’t matter if we lost the last three, if we won the last three. We won three games. They won three games. You wash that. This is a one-game series.
Last year, the Bruins lost in overtime in Game 7 to the Florida Panthers. Choking again can’t be on their minds.
“If I dwell on the past, yes, then you feel pressure,” coach Jim Montgomery said. “We can’t dwell on the past. It’s not healthy.”
So the Bruins have a checklist to deter another choke and end the Toronto Maple Leafs’ season.
After the 2-1 Game 6 loss, Montgomery was out of character to identify David Pastrnak as the player who needed to bring more in Game 7. Montgomery returned to positivity Friday when discussing his muted right wing.
“I talked to him about it right after the game,” Montgomery said. “I talked to him about it during the match. Pasta and I have a truly healthy and communicative relationship. He’s ready to go.
Pastrnak is scoreless in the last two games and has two goals and four points in the series after scoring 47 goals and 110 points in the regular season. He promised to shoot more in the seventh game. He made 18 shots in the six games, or 3.17 per game, well below his regular season average of 4.66 per game.
Expect Montgomery to double and triple Pastrnak on offensive zone starts.
Where is David Pastrnak? “Pasta needs to step up”
– Fluto Shinzawa (@FlutoShinzawa) May 3, 2024
Disrupting Joseph Woll’s Lines of Sight
Joseph Woll was excellent in Games 5 and 6. The Bruins helped him thrive. The former Boston College goaltender had a clear look at the pucks more often than not.
This must change.
“If they’re shooting pucks from inside the points and we have bodies on net,” Montgomery said of his defensemen, “something we haven’t done a good enough job of is is to take his eyes off those point shots.”
GO FURTHER
Joseph Woll’s Game 5 victory was a joyful homecoming in Boston
Release the pucks
The Leafs are fully committed to stuffing bodies in shooting lanes. They blocked 27 shots in Game 6. Morgan Rielly ate the puck a game-high five times.
The problem with blocks, however, is that they produce loose pucks. No one knows where they will end up. The more bodies the Bruins put on dangerous ice, the better their chances of winning recoveries and keeping up with Woll.
“We need to get inside the ice more with and without the puck,” Montgomery said. “It seems simple. Inland ice is between the points. If you are out of bounds with or without the puck, you are not a real threat to score. And you have to go below the peaks.
We will count on the big boys of the Bruins (Coyle, Trent Frederic, James van Riemsdyk, Justin Brazeau, Pat Maroon) to get there.
Jeremy Swayman was the Bruins’ best player in the playoffs. He has a .947 save percentage, second among playoff goalies behind Woll (.964), his former Hockey East counterpart. William Nylander scored the only goals in Game 6, first with a deflection off Charlie McAvoy, second on a breakaway.
“We need everyone to be more like Jeremy Swayman,” Montgomery said. “He just owns the moment. He is in the moment. He stays in the present moment. He likes to make a difference.
Saturday will be Swayman’s fifth consecutive start. His regular season high was four. It remains to be seen whether he has enough gas in the tank to feature in the elite.
Activate defenders
The Bruins’ only goal in Game 6 was with Swayman replaced by a sixth forward. They scored a five-on-five goal in the fifth game. Woll and the Leafs give them nothing.
Defenders must therefore accelerate the offensive pace.
McAvoy and Mason Lohrei are best equipped to join the rush, carry the puck and make plays in the offensive zone. They will have the green light to go more than usual. Adding a fourth attacker often causes defensive confusion. But that will require the Bruins forwards to be attentive to the revenge of their defenders.
“Lohrei-McAvoy probably created the most yesterday as a D duo,” Montgomery said. “Simply because they were more assertive, joining the play, creating a fourth man in the rush. They just have to have ice balance. It’s not just them. These are the forwards who cover them. Because we want them to be on guard.
(Top photo by David Pastrnak and John Tavares: John E. Sokolowski / USA Today)