The Bruins’ offense was again powerless when it counted, and other Game 2 observations - The Boston Globe (2024)

It’s little solace to the Black and Gold fandom, but the game’s top marksman did what he’s paid to do: score big goals and carry his team.

The Bruins, who took the 1-0 lead on Morgan Geekie’s power-play strike, had one more great opportunity to tie it when awarded a power play with 6:03 to go. But the Boston advantage produced zero threat. In fact, the Leafs four times cleared the puck out of their zone, forcing the Bruins to play uphill the full two minutes. Not what it takes to win in the postseason, or any time of year.

The Leafs outshot the Bruins in both Games 1 and 2, by an aggregate 69-54. But that’s just the whole math. Despite winning the opener, 5-1, with two of those goals on the power play, the Bruins in both games struggled to get into prime shooting spots, hold ground, and work plays that can lead to prime Grade A chances.

The weakness is, yet again, the inside ice. The Leafs aren’t great at that game either, but the team that gets into the dirty areas and dares the other team to chase them out of there ultimately should carry the series.

“I think it’s a function of they are defending well,” said Bruins coach Jim Montgomery. “It’s also a function of we are not playing fast enough. We’re slow in transition, which is not allowing us to possess pucks and it’s not allowing us to get in on the forecheck more.”

“Even the last game, that’s something we struggled with — getting the net front,” noted Pavel Zacha, who made the night’s most dazzling play, setting up the David Pastrnak goal that provided a 2-1 lead late in the first period. “I think going through their D corps, we have to be better and stay in there, have more [valuable] shots, especially five-on-five.”

Zacha agreed that faster pace of play, increasing speed when in possession of the puck, could provide the remedy.

“Especially through the neutral zone, I think we have to be a little bit smarter,” noted Zacha, “play it simple, get it in, play to our strength.”

▪ Nothing kills a buzz like taking a lead, relaxing just a little, and quickly surrendering the lead. Exhibit A: The Bruins moved ahead, 1-0, on Geekie’s power-play goal at 10:18, then watched Max Domi knot it up all of … 14 … seconds ... later.

Just a weak, unfocused shift, the kind in the playoffs that can kill more than a buzz. Brandon Carlo and Hampus Lindholm both lost their coverage in front of Ullmark, and the slippery Domi potted his own rebound.

The play generated off Lindholm’s failure to move the puck out of the zone. Matthews ripped off a shot from the right side and it hit the crossbar, the loose change going to Domi for the equalizer.

▪ Zacha’s confidence keeps growing. The ex-Devils pivot set up Pastrnak’s go-ahead goal, 2-1, with a spectacular blind backhand feed into the slot from the right-wing circle, just seconds after a faceoff. Pastrnak’s finish was strong, a one-timer, but the Zacha dish was Globetrotter-esque.

▪ Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe noted after Game 1 that he didn’t like some of his club’s undisciplined play, particularly Domi’s dim-witted hack on Brad Marchand that set up the Bruins for one of their two power-play goals in the 5-1 win.

Apparently Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe didn’t fully process his coach’s ire. With 9:52 gone in the first, following a whistle in the Leafs’ end, McCabe delivered a stiff, classic cross-check to the back of Jake DeBrusk. To DeBrusk’s credit, he did not retaliate, leaving McCabe with 1) nothing to say; 2) nothing to do, except skate to the penalty box … and feel shame.

▪ Power-play unit No. 1, a work in progress now for 84 games for the Bruins, had Geekie out there with Marchand, Charlie Coyle, DeBrusk, and McAvoy. On the night’s opening goal, Marchand made the feed across, from near the right post, and Geekie snapped off the backdoor shot.

Had it not been for the boot of a Leafs skater, which angled the puck by Ilya Samsonov, Geekie’s shot would have sailed right through the crease. Yet another example of how shots on net, sometimes even bad shots, often pay dividends. Shots not taken pay nothing every time, without fail.

“If we can hold on to some more pucks down low,” mused Geekie at the end of the night, “and start to get more north, I think it will be better for us. That was key to our game all year, playing in their end. We’ll try to build on that in Game 3.”

Support, said Geekie, is the key to maintaining that pressure.

“Everyone talks about getting three guys around [the puck] and using our D,” he said. “We’ve got some mobile D. We’ve got to use them to our advantage and get more pucks in the zone.”

▪ Montgomery, rarely emotional behind his bench, was steaming at molten tea-kettle level at 12:01 when his Bruins were caught for too many men on the ice. Playoffs call for details and discipline. Again, a lack of concentration. Perfection is impossible, at any time of the year, but the playoffs demand particular attention to detail, especially when things are so close. Montgomery had every reason to be peeved.

Six seconds after the Bruins killed the penalty, Calle Jarnkrok ripped off a shot from the right-wing circle, Ullmark cutting it down with his glove up against the near post, some 20 inches off the ice. The refs wanted another look, because it appeared Ullmark might have snared the puck behind the goal line. But the save held up to forensic review. No goal. Big break for the Bruins.

▪ The camera again was the Bruins’ best friend at 16:57 when ex-Bostonian Tyler Bertuzzi banged in the 2-2 equalizer. It was called a good goal on the ice. But the replay clearly showed that Bertuzzi’s stick blade was above the crossbar when he astutely plucked the puck out of the air. No goal. The Bruins were 2-for-2 on Kodak moments.

▪ The Bruins handed the Leafs a third chance on the power play at 16:52 of the second, Matt Grzelcyk whistled off for interfering with John Tavares low in the Boston defensive slot. And it was Tavares, with a quick half-slapper, who ripped home the equalizer less than a minute later.

Penalties are going to happen. The Leafs have the shooters to make teams pay. All of which underscores how critical it will be for the Bruins to score on their chances with the man advantage in this series, and equally important to keep play at even strength.

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.