Coming off of a 1-0 loss Saturday night in Nashville, the Bruins kick off a four-game home stand Monday night when the Dallas Stars roll into town. The Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday and Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday all follow.
All four games will provide the Bruins with different challenges, but this week is going to shape up to be a big one for the Bruins as they hope to find their offense that has suddenly gone missing.
Saturday’s loss to the Predators was another example of the Bergeron line being shut down, equaling no offensive production and Jaroslav Halak performing at his best.
The lack of offense from anyone not named Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron or David Pastrnak continues to be a frustrating issue. The Bruins went 0-4 on the power play and managed just six third period shots in the loss.
To me, the Bruins issues offensively are the same ones they had in the offseason, throughout training camp and into their season opening loss in Washington. Their lack of a second line winger to play alongside David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk, and the lack of a true third-line center is causing major issues offensively.
After losing out to the Kings and Maple Leafs respectively on the Ilya Kovalchuk and John Tavares sweepstakes, the Bruins decided that they were going to roll with what they have in the system in hopes of replicating the magic of last season.
One of the biggest reasons to their success a season ago was the production they got from their rookies, and nearly 30 goals from a fourth line that was arguably the best in hockey.
Fast forward to here and now and the Bruins are getting neither. The only rookie forward that made the team is now in Providence in Ryan Donato and the other rookies the Bruins had hoped would step up and earn jobs couldn’t take the next step and make the NHL roster.
The fourth line has been a rotation of names, as has the second and third lines. Regardless of the names on any of the lines, scoring has been an issue for them all.
At this point, there’s not many other line combinations head coach Bruce Cassidy can try as he looks for any sort of consistency from his offense. It’s Cassidy’s job to get the most out of his players and right now, outside of the Bergeron line, he’s not getting anything.
The Bruins have had the misfortune of the injury bug hitting hard, but that’s mostly been on the backend. Charlie McAvoy remains out with no return date in sight. Kevan Miller is still nursing a hand injury while Matt Grzelcyk is set to return at some point this week.
The offensive issues facing the Bruins are putting Cassidy in a tough spot and the pressure continues to build up. With each game that results in a lack of secondary scoring, the questions about breaking up the Bergeron line continue.
At times this season when goals have been hard to come by, we’ve seen Pastrnak move to the second line with DeBrusk jumping up next to Bergeron and Marchand for a shift here and there.
“This is the National Hockey League, and you have to take ownership. I’m not going to put Bergy [Bergeron], Marshy [Marchand] or Pasta [Pastrnak] all on separate lines,… Cassidy said. “You can move Pasta around, which we have, but at the end of the day, it’s up to the other guys to generate a little bit more.…
As much as some would like to see it, offensive help from outside the organization is not near. For the Bruins to start producing outside their top line, guys like DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Anders Bjork and David Backes need to step up and start chipping in. The four have combined for just eight points to date.
The Bruins have just three goals in their last three games, and have been shut out twice in that span. Entering Monday’s contest with the Stars, the Bruins rank 24th in goals scored per game with 2.85.