With the conference finals primed to kick off on Saturday night (8 p.m. ET on Versus, to be exact), we have a little more time to explore the two matchups. The NHL’s final four teams have plenty of strengths, but even these squads have a weakness or two. With that notion in mind, we asked: what flaw sticks out like a sore thumb?
To best answer that question, we provided our own hypothesis and also polled a blogger from each team.
We’ll start things off with Boston Bruins.
Our choice: the Bruins’ power play
The Bruins play a disciplined defensive system, employ one of the best goalies in the game and sport an underrated group of forwards. The problem, for me, is that they’ll have a lot of trouble scoring “easy” goals.
Sure, they filled the net with little trouble against the Philadelphia Flyers, but let’s face it. That team was in tailspin mode.
Instead, Tampa Bay Lightning smell an awful lot like the Montreal Canadiens, a group that gave Boston some serious headaches in the first round of the playoffs. The Bruins dropped a goose egg on the power play in that series and still managed to survive, becoming the first team in NHL history to win a seven-game series without a single PP goal. The Lightning have a fairly potent power play, so if they can camouflage some of their mistakes by being efficient with the man advantage, this could be a laborious series for Boston.
Then again, the team’s real sore thumb might be Patrice Bergeron’s sore head.
Here is another view on the team’s most glaring flaw from Evan Coburn of the SB Nation Bruins Blog Stanley Cup of Chowder.
Special teams play will play a key role in this series and could prove to be the Bruins’ “Sore Thumb” against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The more time that the Bruins can spend 5-on-5, the better. The Bruins enter the Eastern Conference finals with a downright dominant 2.38 5-on-5 ratio, but also own the worst power play (5.4 percent) and penalty kill (80.5 percent) of any of the four teams still alive. The Lightning, on the other hand, have the best power play percentage (25.7 percent) and penalty kill (94.4 percent) of any of the teams that advanced to the conference finals.
To make matters worse, the Bruins will be without one of their best special teams players and face-off men in Patrice Bergeron, who is fourth among Bruins’ forwards in shorthanded ice time per game in the playoffs. The Bruins center and alternate captain - who is expected to miss at least the start of the series (if not all of the Eastern Conference finals) with a concussion - also sees some shifts on the power play for Claude Julien’s team. If the Bruins’ special team units don’t turn things around, it could cost them the series and their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 21 years.
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As you can see, Evan and I are in agreement: special teams - particularly the power play - could be the Bruins’ undoing. It should be interesting to see how this series pans out. Stay tuned for the Tampa Bay Lightning’s “sore thumb” later tonight.