The forwards just don't skate well enough to combat the putrid ice conditions that come with April/May hockey at the TD Garden. And they don't finish well enough to capitalize on the chances they do get.
You look at the last two series vs. Florida. With their "throw everything at the net" style, they will get their looks, they'll get their chances, it's inevitable. Both goals last night came off essentially broken plays that ended up on a Panther stick.
How do you combat that? You spend more time in the Florida end of the ice. That's the only weapon you have really to counter Florida's style. The HNIC broadcast last night brought it up several times. And by spending less time in your own end defending, the Bruins were fresher overall. Funny how that works.
Last night, it worked great the first 10 mins. All 4 lines came out flying. But as the game wore on, they couldn't sustain the pressure. You need fresh legs and fast legs to keep up that pressure late in games. By the 2nd period, many of the Bruins forwards looked like they were skating in mud. Florida tightened up defensively, forced the Bruins to beat them with speed they don't have, and you get these long stretches of no shots on goal.
I thought it was clear last year that the Bruins needed to get younger and faster up front. Instead they got bigger, older and slower.
And they don't have enough touch/finish/shooting ability. This front office has NEVER appreciated that skillset. Very few players who can snipe or hammer a puck. D-men struggle to get pucks through traffic. If they capitalize on even a couple of those chances they got in the 1st period of Games 2 and 3, or the chances they did have last night, it's a different game, different series. That game last night we've seen a dozen times at the TD Garden over the last decade. Bruins fail to pull ahead on the scoreboard and the opposing team gets a couple lucky bounces and that's all she wrote.
Honestly I'm sick and f***ing tired of hearing about how the Bruins need to get bigger and tougher up front. It's complete bullshit. They've been chasing that dragon for half a century and it got them 1 championship. This big, bad Bruin fantasy continually bites them in the ass.
You need a good mix of skillsets, can't just be one type of player. 3 of their biggest forwards last night (Brazeau, JVR, Maroon) were their 3 biggest liabilities up front. People lose this series and they think the solution is bringing in a below-average skater like a Tyler Bertuzzi because he's an asshole on the ice. That's not the problem here and a Bertuzzi reunion just compounds the problem, doesn't solve anything.
This summer shouldn't be rocket science for this front office. Get more finish/touch at the top of the line-up, replace some of those below-average skaters with some young, greasy speed. And if you can find young greasy speed that brings some size and physicality, even better.
But the days of icing this line-up where 2/3rd of it are average of below average skaters has to come to an end. Because the ice at the TD Garden ain't about to get any better.
