Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy had his finger on the pulse of his team, and when he realized his top trio wasn't clicking, he leaned on his depth players to get the job done.
BOSTON – One thing that has become increasingly evident in this playoff run by the Boston Bruins is how impressive Bruce Cassidy is and how much he has evolved into an elite NHL coach.
After the morning skate prior to Game 1, instead of treating his player deployment like a state secret for which he’d be executed if he let it out, the Bruins coach essentially said his plan was to put Patrice Bergeron’s line up against the St. Louis Blues’ top unit and if that didn’t work, he’d throw Sean Kuraly’s trio up against Brayden Schenn between Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko.
And that’s exactly what happened. Shortly after a terrible no-look pass in the defensive zone by David Pastrnak led to a gift goal that put the Blues up 2-0 and the Bergeron unit dash-2 in the game, Cassidy changed his strategy. “It wasn’t going our way, it’s that simple,” Cassidy said after Game 1. “I thought Bergy’s line had a tough time finding their game tonight and the other guys were a little bit ahead of them.”
That’s the kind of thinking that wins Stanley Cups. And it’s also the kind of thinking that pretty much led to the Bruins dominating the rest of the game and taking a 1-0 lead in the final. That second Blues goal was St. Louis' ninth shot of the game and it came at the one-minute mark of the second period. For the next 29 minutes, the Bruins limited the Blues to just 11 more shots on the night, including only two more in the second period. “We pushed back and to some goals out of that,” said Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, “so (I was) just pretty much a spectator after that.”
The Kuraly line not only held the Blues in check, it was responsible for getting the Bruins back in the game. Kuraly assisted on a goal by Connor Clifton that came just 1:16 after the 2-0 goal, then provided the game winner early in third period. It represented an enormous missed opportunity for the Blues, largely because there’s a pretty good chance the Bergeron line is going to redeem itself and be much better the rest of the series.
It’s also a testament to the depth the Bruins have and the fine work GM Don Sweeney has done with this roster. After having a career year at the age of 29, Riley Nash signed a three-year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets worth $2.75 million a season. Sweeney essentially replaced him with Joakim Nordstrom on a one-year deal at $1 million, confident that Kuraly – coincidentally a native of the Columbus area – and Noel Acciari were ready for increased responsibility. And he was right. Nash, meanwhile, had a terrible year and that contract is not looking terribly good.
There was so much to like about Kuraly’s line in Game 1 and it was impressive that Cassidy had the acumen to adapt. One of the greatest skills of a coach is instinctively knowing which players are going on any given night and which ones aren’t. Joel Quenneville is one of the best at it. And Cassidy identified 21 minutes into the game what needed to be done.
“This is what they do,” Cassidy said of Kuraly’s line. “They possess pucks. They can skate. They play simple hockey and I think against St. Louis if you play north, especially for us being off as long as we were, we had to not get drawn into the fancy stuff, the east-west stuff, stuff that you’re doing in practice because you don’t have the competitive edge. They got rewarded by going to the net. We needed to be a little more physical against that line and I thought they were able to deliver on that, too.”
After the Kuraly matchup, the Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko unit had just five shots and eight shot attempts at even strength the rest of the game. It was a move that turned Game 1 on its ear and could end up setting the tone for the series. Cassidy made a great move by doing it and Kuraly and his linemates deserve kudos for responding to it the way they did in a Stanley Cup final.
“I think it shows that obviously our coach has confidence in us to go out there and do that job and we know what our job is when we’re out against a line like that,” Kuraly said. “It’s to make it difficult for them to create any offense and they’re a great line so it’s tough. But the expectation from us was just play them hard and play them honest and make them earn every inch and if they beat us with their skill – which will definitely happen at times – then so be it.”
That did not happen in Game 1. And because of it, the Bruins are that much closer to winning the Stanley Cup.
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