The Bruins haven't breathed easy this entire series. A deceiving 4-1 win should be no exception.
Thursday's Game 4, with several oddities added in, wasn't drastically different than the rest of the series. The Blue Jackets enjoyed lengthy stays in the Boston zone, with Tuukka Rask facing a heavier workload than Sergei Bobrovsky. That the Bruins received the best goaltending performance is of course a good thing, but it doesn't solve their series-long problems.
Offensively, the Bruins got one goal from a top six that has continues to struggle at even strength. The Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line posted negative possession numbers, as did David Krejci. Sean Kuraly added his name to the list of if-Bobrovsky-is-so-incredible-why-are-fourth-liners-scoring-on-him players for the series.
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A major difference-maker on the scoreboard was the high number of power plays (six) awarded to the Bruins, who deserved to play the entire game on the man advantage given the officiating/rulebook snafu that gave Columbus a goal that shouldn't have counted. In between giving up shorthanded odd-man rush after odd-man rush, Boston got two Bergeron goals on the man advantage.
Despite the Bruins having power play after power play, the Blue Jackets held a 13-8 edge in scoring chances over the first 20 minutes. They outchanced the B's, 11-10, in the second. If that one-goal lead felt like one eighth of a goal for viewers, it's because the Blue Jackets ranged from carrying the play to kicking the Bruins' asses.
That the Bruins, the team leading, took over in the third period only goes to underscore how weird this series has been. By the time the final horn sounded, scoring chances were even at 31 apiece.
Now, that number still isn't great for the Bruins given how much more time they spent on the power play than Columbus, but it's a start. The fact that three of the four goals came from players who could be characterized as "fighting it" is a good thing, but there were still issues even from the goal-scorers.
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Pastrnak was a nightmare with the puck on the power play, leading to multiple chances for Columbus. Bergeron passed up one very good chance in the second and later squandered a chance in all alone on Bobrovsky by dekeing until he was taken down.
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The silver lining — and really the reason why the Bruins should win this series — is that they're tied despite having areas of concern. The Blue Jackets are maximizing what they have. The Bruins should still feel like they're underachieving.
Boston's stars still need to start scoring 5-on-5 with at least a drop of regularity, and it's not a "beating Bobrovsky" thing, it's a "create and sustain offensive pressure" thing. The power play personnel still might need addressing. For Rask's sake, the Bruins could stand to look more like their third-period form from Thursday.
The Blue Jackets are happy to play low-scoring games in which they dictate the terms. If Boston gets its ducks in a row, the wins will come much easier than they did Thursday.
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