The Bruins open a difficult six-game road trip beginning on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia with the goal of fine-tuning their game before the playoffs open in late April.
Job One in that endeavor will be to fix the struggling first power-play unit. It went 0-for-3 in Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Rangers and has looked out of sync for a while. Captain Brad Marchand has particularly struggled, going 29 games now without a power-play goal. Whether Marchand is in the lineup on Saturday is still a bit of a question mark. He did not practice on Friday at Warrior Ice Arena and coach Jim Montgomery termed his absence as a “maintenance” day but couldn’t definitively confirm he’ll play against the Flyers.
“Most likely (he’ll play). I’m not going to say 100 percent but most likely,” said Montgomery.
In the captain’s absence, the first power-play unit was reconfigured with Pavel Zacha moving to Marchand’s spot on the right, Jake DeBrusk going in to the net-front position, Charlie Coyle in the bumper and David Pastrnak (left elbow) and Charlie McAvoy (blue line) in their usual spots.
Montgomery has been trying to get first unit to simplify and think shot more often than it has, which he admitted can be a challenge when you have veterans who have had a lot of success in the past on the PP.
“Yes, but I think the tougher thing is mentally to not get frustrated, coaches and players alike,” said Montgomery. “Because they’re used to having success, when things continue to not have successful outcomes, you tend to get impatient. We’ve been trying to be less impatient but always with a shot-first mindset. I still don’t think we have a shot-first mindset out there.”
Marchand, stuck on 399 career goals, has just one goal in his last 14 games and he had a rough night on Thursday when he was charged with four giveaways and the Rangers’ eventual game-winning goal coming from the defenseman (Adam Fox) on his side of the ice.
Montgomery stuck up for his captain while simultaneously acknowledging he’s fighting it right now.
“I think in an 82 (game) grind, you’re going to have nights when you have it and nights when you don’t. But I think with Brad, we always get his maximum effort and that’s how he leads and why we’re one of the teams with the most points in the league, because a lot of times your team play is a reflection of your captain and our captain competes really hard and I feel our team competes really hard,” said Montgomery. “But with that, there’s frustration like we talked about. He’s part of that frustration on the power play, right? He expects to do great things and that’s why he’s an elite player. But sometimes it doesn’t go your way and sometimes you get impatient. I think he’s a little impatient right now, especially on the power play. Not so much five-on-five.”
Montgomery said finding success on the PP can be as simple as the player who is getting the puck to have his stick in a half-cocked position for a one-timer to force the defense to react to it, which in turn can open up passing lanes.
“Whether the pucks on the goal line or its up to with Charlie or its on the elbows, they’ve all got to look to score,” said Montgomery. “It seems real simple. But a lot of times if you watch them, they’re getting the puck and they’re looking for their next play. They’re not looking to score.”
Whether Marchand is in the lineup on Saturday or not, the B’s will be challenged to break out of their power play slump. The Flyers, fighting to stay in the playoff structure, are ranked third in penalty kill (84.6% kill rate) and lead the league in shorthanded goals with 16. The B’s will be going for the season sweep of Philly…
There’s a possibility we see another third defense pairing. Mason Lohrei skated with Andrew Peeke in practice and, though Montgomery would not commit to his lineup, Lohrei manned the blue line on the second power play unit with Justin Brazeau at the net-front, Hampus Lindholm on the right elbow, Morgan Geekie on the left elbow and James van Riemsdyk in the bumper.
“We wanted to see (the Lohrei-Peeke pairing) in practice today,” said Montgomery. “Ideally, it looks good, a guy that’s stiff and physical with a guy that’s a puck-mover, an offensive guy. On paper it looks good. Maybe we’ll see it in Philly. I’m not 100 percent sure.”…
Singer Celine Dion was a guest of the Bruins for Thursday’s game and announced the starting lineup in the locker room before the game.
Though both Montgomery and Dion are from the Montreal area, the coach said he had no connection to her.
“We both speak French, that’s the only connection. I sing a little better. She coaches better,” said Montgomery with a laugh.
Will Dion have to mend fences up in Montreal after being cozy with the hated rival?
“No, the sons are Bruins fans!” Montgomery said with a grin. “And as you know, once you have kids, your allegiance goes to wherever your kids are because that becomes your life.”
