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Net-front presence the focus for Bruins in Game 4

May 2, 2019, 12:41 PM ET [8 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
Boston Bruins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Bruins know why they enter Game 4 Thursday night in Columbus, trailing two games to one in their best-of-seven series with the Blue Jackets. It also sounds like they know what they need to do to fix one of the problems they're facing in the series.

With the Bruins lacking any sort of presence in front of Blue Jackets’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, head coach Bruce Cassidy is inserting David Backes back into the lineup. Backes will skate on a line with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk as Karson Kuhlman will be a healthy scratch.

“David, he’s a net presence. Something that’s needed against Bobrovsky I believe. I think we did a good job of that at times, but we just didn’t find the loose pucks,” Cassidy said after practice on Wednesday.

“Eventually we got a goal from going to the net. Got one from Pasta (David Pastrnak) the other night. I think that’s the formula for us now to get some traffic in there without bumping him. He (Backes) will bring that. After that, he’s just a solid good player.”

Net-front presence has been a big factor for both the Bruins and Blue Jackets through three games so far.

Too often the Bruins gave failed to get to the net and make things difficult for Bobrovsky. When the Bruins have been able to get to the net, and create secondary shots, Bobrovsky has been there to turn them away. With a better net-front presence and more of a focus on getting towards the blue paint, the Bruins hope that will change.

“The secondary saves that he’s making are very impressive. But he’s (Bobrovsky) definitely going to crack at some point,” Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo said after Game 3. “I have a lot of faith that we’re going to start putting pucks past him here pretty soon. We’ve had some great opportunities today throughout all three periods to put pucks behind him. Credit to him today, but overall, I don’t think it’s going to last.”

Getting to the net and taking away Bobrovsky’s eyes, while causing him trouble with deflected pucks and being there to clean up any loose rebounds is how the Bruins plan on finally getting to Bobrovsky.

"From my point of view, if he's seeing it he's stopping it," Backes said of Bobrovsky. "He's over quick on lateral plays. He's doing a heck of a job to keep them in games and give them a chance to win. It's been three one-goal games, so the margins are very small, but if we can take his eyes away, find a couple loose pucks in front of the net, that's kind of what I've done my whole career. That'd be great, and it would give us a better chance to win.”

The Blue Jackets do a great job of playing head coach John Tortorella’s system exactly how it’s drawn up. With a focus on clogging the middle and not giving the Bruins any space to get to the net, the Bruins have had issues scoring against Bobrovsky.

Going 7-for-16 in their first round victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins power play was a key for them. With the Blue Jackets being a team that likes to pack it in and make you beat them with shots from the outside, the Bruins once deadly power play has become a weakness. The Bruins have converted on just one power play attempt in 10 tries.

For a Bruins team that loves to work the puck in and out of the bumper position, the Bruins need to find a way to space out the four Blue Jackets Penalty killers and get back to moving the puck through the bumper.

As you can see here, the Blue Jackets are down low on a Bruins power play, not allowing a bumper to skate in and move the puck through the area.



On the power play, DeBrusk is a guy the Bruins rely on to get to the net, and do the little things in front of the goalie that make power plays successful. From screens, to tips, to rebounds, the Bruins need DeBrusk to get to the net more often in order to get the power play going.

These are two examples of what the Bruins need to get back to on the power play, with DeBrusk driving the net for tips, and more stationary bodies in front of the net for tips and rebounds.





Getting to Bobrovsky is a simple game plan, but one the Bruins need to execute better.

“Our game plan continues to be to get pucks there, traffic, second chances, be better on the power play. Those are all high end—those tend to be better quality chances where the goaltender has to make good stops if he’s fighting traffic, if it’s second chances, and like I said, power play, seams,” added Cassidy.

As much as the Bruins are focusing on net-front presence in the Blue Jackets zone, they need to be more aware of what is happening in front of Tuukka Rask, and be better at clearing the space in front of their own net.

On Brandon Dubinsky’s game-tying goal in Game 1, he and Riley Nash were able to get themselves to the front of the Bruins net with ease. From there Nash and Dubinsky were able to beat Rask with a double-deflection. Neither Charlie Coyle nor Charlie McAvoy made much of an attempt to clear them, or disrupt them from getting their sticks on the puck.



It was much of the same in Game 2 for Columbus, as the Bruins allowed them to get to the spots they wanted and do so with little resistance.

On Artemi Panarin’s rocket of a goal in Game 2, Chara is down low all by himself with two Blue Jackets in front of Rask trying to take his vision away. The split second screen by Matt Duchene was just enough to delay Rask and Panarin went on to tie the game.



Speaking of Duchene. In the five seconds leading up to his double-overtime game-winning goal in Game 2, he was able to camp out in front of Rask with neither Brandon Carlo nor Zdeno Chara paying any attention to him.



The sequence that bothered me the most was Duchene’s goal in Game 3. With Chara right on top of him, he was slow to react and as Duchene got his stick on the puck, Chara’s stick was shoulder level. Not a great place for a stick to be as a six-foot-nine defenseman, especially directly in front of your own net. By the time Chara got his stick down and in the way of Duchene's stick, the puck was already in the net.



I would expect the Bruins to better in their own zone when it comes to net-front presence. But will Backes make much of a difference on the offensive side of things?

He plans on it.

"So, hopefully I find myself on top of that [blue] paint for extended periods of times with little black pucks flying by me, try to get tips and rebounds and screens,” added Backes.

“It's no secret how you score this time of year and I want to be part of that."
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