Bruins take ‘stubborn’ approach in shutout loss to Flames

Author Ty Anderson

November 22nd, 2021 6:04 AM

Believe it or not, things were ugly for the Bruins’ power play even before they gave a shorthanded Calgary group four chances on Jeremy Swayman on the way to Andrew Mangiapane’s shorthanded deathblow.

Rattled to hell by an aggressive Calgary penalty-killing group that refused to let the Bruins get comfortable — or even set up over the attacking blue line, for that matter — the Black and Gold’s high-skilled top unit tried to use that high-end skill and instead bungled puck movement through the neutral zone to spark an almost impossible-to-imagine 2-on-0 the other way.

“They got outworked,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That top group, they were stubborn tonight. Very stubborn in their approach. Sometimes it works out for them because they’re elite players. Tonight it didn’t and it hurt us.”

Kept off the board with an 0-for-3 figure, the Bruins actually managed just four shots on Daniel Vladar while up a man. That alone is a problem, as explained by Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron.

“We can talk about plays and what we’re seeing, but at times we have to just bring the puck on net, retrieve rebounds, [create] second and third chances, and then things will open up for us,” Bergeron offered. “I think we forced a lot of plays tonight and they capitalized on those plays.”

It didn’t help that the Bruins entered Sunday’s game knowing that the Flames’ shorthanded group wasn’t going to make it easy on them, and that they stuck with some hero-puck approaches that went nowhere but the wrong way.

“We had a game plan on how to get in the zone,” Cassidy acknowledged. “Calgary’s [penalty kill] is excellent and they defend the blue line well. There’s certain ways you can get in. You’ve got to play behind it or on the first pass get into the middle so you can kick it out. We didn’t do it.”

And it cost ’em.

Here are some other thoughts and notes from a 4-0 loss to the Flames…

• A rare power-on-power loss for the Bruins

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  It's not often that Patrice Bergeron finds himself beat by another team's top center at five-on-five. But that's exactly what played out before Boston's eyes Sunday night in No. 37's head-to-head with the Flames' Elias Lindholm.
  
  On the ice for 5:46 of five-on-five action against one another, the Flames outshot Bergeron and the Bruins by a 6-0 mark, out-chanced them 5-0, and outscored ‘em 1-0. The only edge Bergeron had over Lindholm in this one came at the dot, where he went 6-for-6 against the Calgary pivot.

• Is Anton Blidh annoying his way into a roster battle?

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  Not gonna lie, I've really enjoyed Anton Blidh's game this season. There's really nothing fancy about it. It's about being hard on every shift, pissing the opposition off (pretty sure he was going to drive the Oilers' Darnell Nurse to either an asylum or a misconduct when the Oilers came to town earlier this month), and making a play when it's there. He certainly did that with the primary helper on Tomas Nosek's game-opening strike in Philadelphia on Saturday night.
  
  It's played out to two assists, 15 hits, five blocked shots, and the second-highest penalties drawn per 60 (1.75) among all Boston skaters through six appearances for the Swedish nuisance.
  
  But beyond the numbers, has it been enough to get Cassidy rethinking his 'optimal' fourth line, which was slated to feature the (currently injured) Trent Frederic to the left of Nosek and Curtis Lazar?
  
  "I wouldn’t say a grip; I would say Blidh is doing his job,” Cassidy said ahead of Sunday's loss to the Flames. “The first goal [against the Flyers] was a great goal last night for that line. He did his job. There were times when he had to sit for a while, but his motor kept going and he pitched in on the [penalty kill], so good for him.
  
  "We’ve invested a lot of time in [Frederic], brings a little different flavor to the game. But at the end of the day, Anton can only control when he’s in the lineup. And he’s doing a good job.”
  
  This isn't the first time that Cassidy has openly acknowledged the 'investment' the Bruins have made with Frederic. The Bruins also made a financial investment with Frederic, too, at $1.05 million per season for this season and next. And that 'different flavor' he's talking about likely references Frederic's status as the team's lone true fighter.
  
  But, it's starting to get hard to ignore how the fourth line has looked with Blidh riding in Frederic's spot. Especially with the line's continued success at creating havoc on the forecheck and drawing penalties.
  
  Frederic, by the way, has started to work his way back in a non-contact sweater.

• The Luuuuuu is still alive and well

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  Moving on from Milan Lucic when the Bruins did was and will always be the right call. It's actually probably one of the only good things Don Sweeney did when he first took over for Peter Chiarelli. The Bruins were never going to be the ones to pay Lucic the contract he ultimately got from the Oilers in 2016, and they had Lucic's age and potential deterioration as an offensive threat in mind when making that obviously difficult decision to part ways with a heart-and-soul type.
  
  But, man, is it still nice to see the big guy still plugging along and with a team that certainly seems to fit his style.
  
  Deployed for 16:09, the 33-year-old Lucic finished with a game-high six hits. And in case you're a nerd about this stuff like I am, this was actually the first time that Lucic went against the most important piece directly related to his trade from Boston to LA in 2015, as Jakub Zboril (No. 13 overall) was in the Boston lineup and actually had a few collisions with the ex-Bruin.
  
  And I can't lie, I still love hearing the 'Luuuu' whenever he touches the puck. Glad to hear that Sunday night.

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Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.

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Author Ty Anderson

Category:

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Tags:

Anton Blidh,Boston Bruins,calgary flames,Milan Lucic,patrice bergeron,ty anderson