Boston Bruins: 3 adjustments B’s must make to even series vs Caps
The Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals kicked off the NHL Playoffs last night, with the Capitals eventually pulling out a 3-2 victory in overtime.
It was a tough way for the Bruins to open the playoffs, and it felt as if they never really found their footing in this game. The Capitals did a good job of keeping the puck in the Bruins zone, while preventing the Bruins from ever getting comfortable on offense on the other end of the ice.
The playoffs are full of quick turnarounds, and that is certainly true with Game 2 set for 7:30 tomorrow night. The Bruins don’t want to quickly fall behind the Caps 2-0 right off the bat, so it’s safe to say Game 2 is of the utmost importance for the Bruins.
If they want to avoid falling in a quick 2-0, there are a number of things they need to improve before the puck drops tomorrow night, so let’s take a look at three areas of improvement before Game 2 for the Bruins.
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No. 3: Boston Bruins must Increase the intensity
The Capitals came out the gate and were hitting the Bruins as much as they could. Nothing displays this better than Alex Ovechkin flying into the Bruins zone looking to lay someone out, only to drop his own teammate Nicklas Backstrom instead of someone wearing the spoked B.
The Capitals overall intensity seemed to catch Boston off-guard for most of the night, as it just felt like Washington controlled the pace of the game for the most part.
The Bruins ratcheted up their intensity at parts of the game, with their most impressive stretch coming towards the end of the third period, but these spurts weren’t prolonged throughout the entire game, which certainly hurt Boston.
There were also points where the Bruins were trying to do too much. Jeremy Lauzon got the Bruins only penalty of the night for an unnecessary cross check on Ovechkin, and with the Capitals boasting one of the best power-play units in the league, the B’s can’t afford to give them too many 5-on-4 situations if they want to win this series.
Luckily Boston made the kill, but they are playing with fire if they let Washington’s power play unit get hot.
The Bruins really need to step up their overall intensity in Game 2, and come out firing. Getting more hits on the Caps will certainly help, but applying more pressure on both the forecheck and backcheck are huge needs too, as they need to keep Washington off the puck more often.
Sometimes improvements can be very basic, and the Bruins need to go back to basics to get off on the right foot in Game 2.