Bruins notebook: Improvement on faceoffs a must
SUNRISE, Fla.–One of the biggest issues the Bruins faced in barely squeaking by the Toronto Maple Leafs was in the faceoff circle. Their 43.6% winning percentage was the worst of all 16 playoff teams as they headed into in Monday’s Game 1 against the Florida Panthers.
The challenge is even greater in this series.
The Panthers’ top three draw-takers – Sasha Barkov, Anton Lundell and Kevin Stenlund – were all over 50%, in the regular season, with leading Selke candidate Barkov pulling them back at a 57.3% rate. Stenlund had a good series against the Lightning (56.4%) as did Sam Reinhart (53.5%), who was much improved over his regular season when he won just over 45% off his faceoffs.
Losing faceoffs affects possession and that leads to periods like the B’s had against the Leafs in Games 5 and 6, when they managed a total of three shots on net in both those first periods. They need to win more draws. But if they can’t, the B’s have to be prepared to defend.
“It’s part of our preparation, knowing what they did if they win it. That’s really important. How you defend, how you check depending on what zone you’re in,” said coach Jim Montgomery after the B’s morning skate at Amerant Bank Arena.
In the regular season, both Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha were both over 50%, but were both in the red in the Toronto series. Coyle win 48.1% of his draws and Zacha won just 39.8%.
They’ve got to find a way to be better in this series, and it’s going to take a five-man effort. If they don’t outright win the draw, they can’t lose them cleanly.
“You’ve got to tie up, if anything,” said Coyle. “If you’re not winning them clean like that, you’ve got to tie up and have your wingers on their toes and be ready. It’s the first battle of any shift, so you have to take advantage of that and play with the puck a little more.”
Players do some homework with video, but Coyle looks at it as more of the mano-a-mano battle that precedes the bigger war for the puck off the draw.
“Usually guys have certain tendencies that you can see. But I think at the end of the day, it’s kind of up to you to feel like if you’re winning faceoffs, you’re just doing 100% whatever you’re going in there to do,” said Coyle. “It’s a full team effort. But it starts with the centermen and we’ve got to be harder on it. Yeah, we can look at some things if that’s something you can do and want to do. But I think above all else, we need to go in there, be hard and get low and win that battle.”…
Linus Ullmark remained on the ice with the projected scratches after morning skate, indicating that Jeremy Swayman was getting his sixth straight start as the team was apparently leaning on the hot hand.
Montgomery didn’t confirm the starter in the morning, but talked about what he was weighing.
“We always said that we had a plan in place and that continues for this series, the same plan we had,” said Montgomery. “There’s something to consider the number of games we’ve played and the fact that neither of our goalies played that number of games in such a short amount of time. And then you have the added adrenaline and emotion or the Stanley Cup playoffs.”
While that “plan” has never been detailed by the B’s, it apparently entails them sticking with a single goalie if he’s playing at a Conn Smythe level, which is what Swayman did against Toronto.
When a golaie is playing like that, the swagger is contagious.
“It’s huge. You can see the confidence he has and that only gives us confidence as well,” said Coyle. “Yeah, it’s a luxury to have them both, they’’re both great goalies. But you don’t want to rely on them. Sometimes you can get a little comfortable because they’re such good goalies, but we want to still limit stuff in front of them and play the way we know how to play. We know he’s going to be there, they’re going to be there for us and make the big stops as they’ve always done this year and in this last series. And this is a (Florida) team that likes to get to the net and find their way. We need to limit them, their chances, be tough on them, box out, all that good stuff, the details of the game, and let Sway see the puck a little more. But we know he’s always there and he gives us so much confidence to play in front of him.”….
Patrick Brown, called up on Sunday, took line rushes with John Beecher and Pat Maroon while Jesper Boqvist stayed out late with the expected scratches. Montgomery would not confirm the switch in the morning, waiting to see on the health of some players. But he likes Brown’s battle level.
“The execution and effort in his game, every time he’s played for us, it’s tremendous, second and third effort, strong on pucks, wins a lot of battles,” said Montgomery. “And his execution of how we want to play, he knows exactly what we’re doing in every situation. Those are real strengths of his game.”
A Boqvist-for-Brown switch would sacrifice speed for a little more strength….
Brandon Carlo was not at the team’s morning skate because he he and his wife Mayson welcomes their second child and first son, Crew, into the world back in Boston. The team hoped that Carlo would make it to South Florida by game time…
Montgomery said that Danton Heinen and Andrew Peeke were ruled out for Game 1…
Winnipeg Jets’ coach Rick Bowness, veteran of 38 seasons seasons behind the bench – including one with the Bruins – announced his retirement on Monday.
Bowness was also Montgomery’s assistant with the Dallas Stars.
“First of all, congrats on an incredible career. Most games behind an NHL bench, such a classy human,” said Montgomery. “A great role model for many coaches, especially me. Even though he was the assistant, he was a mentor to me about how you practice in this league, how you handle players, how you handle travel, all those things. He tremendously impacted me and my growth in the league. The most important things is what a great human and family man he is. His wife and him – his wife texted my wife – after Game 7 and before Game 7. That speaks volumes about the type of people they are and how they care about the people that have been in their lives.”