BOSTON — A small thing can illustrate a big thing.
The power plays of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins were horrid down the stretch, both suffering their driest spells of their respective seasons during the regular season’s final dozen games.
Jim Montgomery refused to watch his flounder, so he did something drastic.
In Game 81(!), when some Leafs were “done with the regular season” and others were chasing numbers, he split up his most potent and familiar weapons, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, and built two balanced units. The coach bucked the modern convention of loading up your five best offensive threats for 1:50 and created internal competition.
Montgomery knew he couldn’t limp into the post-season with such a lifeless power play.
So, when assistant coach Chris Kelly — a heckuva penalty killer in his playing days, so he knows what can drives a PK nuts — presented a radical switch so late in the season, the head coach was open. Fixing the issue required urgency.
Montgomery’s superstars didn’t blink or balk because, well, that’s not the Bruins’ way.
Montgomery’s conversation with his multimillionaires was simple: “We’ve tried this long enough. I think we’re stale right now. We think we’re pressing and we’re not seeing the plays in front of us. So, we’re gonna switch things up.”
Refreshed and reenergized, the Bruins’ power play found the net in Game 82, then twice in Game 1 against the Leafs, then again in Game 2, twice more in Game 3 and provided the winner in Saturday’s Game 4.
It’s scorching. It’s a major reason why Boston leads 3-1 in the series.
“The great thing about people talking about the Bruins culture is the players here,” Montgomery explained. “They want to be coached. And if they think it’s best for the team, they’re 100 per cent behind it. Like, I have yet to face, ‘No, we’re not going to try that,’ you know?
“The result is, we’re a lot crisper. There is a lot more pace to our power play. And that’s a credit to the players — because we give them a plan, and they’re like, ‘Well, we’re all in.’”
Charlie McAvoy has gone from quarterbacking PP1 to quarterbacking PP1A.
“We didn’t have it late in the year, and at times it was very frustrating,” McAvoy said. “We shook up the units a little bit. And if anything, that gave us all a bit of a fresh start and a chance to build some new chemistry.”
The Maple Leafs’ power play, their intended superpower, didn’t have it late in the regular season either. Their PP scuffled to the finish line at a 12.5 per conversion rate over the final 12 games.
Outside of waiting for Mitch Marner’s ankle to heal, little was done to shock the man-advantage to life.
One can debate how much Toronto’s ineffective power play falls upon assistant Guy Boucher or head coach Sheldon Keefe? Did they consider drastic personnel or strategic changes? Were they concerned how their stars might react if they did? Or did the coaches simply bank on the big guys to deliver, eventually?
We don’t know the answers to those questions.
We do know that when captain John Tavares, who lived on PP1 virtually his whole hockey life, was temporarily bumped to PP2 in February, it was a tough pill to swallow. (It also helped shake Tyler Bertuzzi from his slumber.)
Ego is a double-edged sword that both drives athletic confidence and greatness but can also roadblock a collective pursuit.
Much like the Maple Leafs as a whole — now losers of seven of their past eight games — power-play issues that weren’t addressed by early April are still plaguing them in late April.
Toronto’s power play is a pitiful 1-for-14 in this series.
“Special teams, of course, are the biggest thing,” Keefe told reporters Sunday. “In our first power play of [Game 4’s loss], that was the most disappointing area of the game in that sense of urgency.”
Urgency is embedded in Bruins culture, off the ice and on. It’s not manufactured or stapled on with the latest round of complementary role players. It lives at the core of the thing.
Montgomery can be fierce in practice, making sure every one of his charges is held to task. The Bruins captain, like the last one and the one before him, will go out of his way to make sure every player feels part of the whole.
Urgency was passed down from Zdeno Chara to Patrice Bergeron to Marchand — whom McAvoy proudly refers to as “our emotional leader.”
Urgency it is much more difficult to identify in Maple Leafs culture. Particularly to anyone who witnessed the first 40 minutes of Game 4.
Ask yourself: Who is Toronto’s emotional leader?
Boston will fire an excellent head coach (Bruce Cassidy) if the playoff results aren’t there, even if that means watching him enjoy success elsewhere.
Toronto will dish out a two-year contract extension to a coach with a 1-4 record in post-season series, then cross their fingers as he teeters toward 1-5.
Accountability under the Brendan Shanahan regime means running it back time and again with staff and core players who repeatedly don’t deliver results. But this time with raises!
Let’s be honest: A lack of urgency got this group — players and suits — in this spot. Culture flows from the top down.
“If you gotta talk about urgency and desperation at this time of year, you’re in trouble,” Keefe said.
Toronto’s coach was arguing that he has no issues with his players resolve right now, speeding toward Tuesday’s elimination game.
We’d argue that the urgency should have started a long time ago.
Fox’s Fast Five
• What in the name of Pepto-Bismol is this sickness that has ravaged Auston Matthews?
A trusted source tells us that the 69-goal man has been trying to manage an illness since after Monday’s beast-mode Game 2, yet it eliminated his participation in practice, took him out of Game 4 early, and now threatens to hinder his performance eight days after it hit.
Another source suggests food poisoning.
“It’s not one of those run-of-the-mill everyday illnesses that come and go,” Keefe said Sunday. “This one has lingered and has gotten worse when he’s gotten on the ice and asserted himself. We’ve got to manage that and give him the time that he needs. We’re hopeful that it will turn.”
• God love Nick Robertson’s effort, but it was a Hail Mary pass to chuck him on the fourth line with pure checkers David Kämpf and Ryan Reaves.
In removing Connor Dewar from that fourth unit, Keefe abandoned familiarity and effectiveness. Robertson–Kämpf–Reaves earned just 25 per cent of the shot attempts when they were on the ice together Saturday and gone hung for a goal against.
Dewar returns in Game 5, right?
• Barring injury or miracle, Ilya Samsonov has played his final game as a Maple Leaf.
Much like Jack Campbell before him, Samsonov is an easy-to-root-for man with a wonderful spirit. Excellent teammate. Gracious with media and fans. You want nice things for him and his family. He’s also not poised or consistent enough to backstop a Stanley Cup winner.
Fascinated to see what he gets in unrestricted free agency. The market is thin on goalies.
• Under-discussed bad play in Game 4: Max Domi taking that undisciplined cross-checking penalty on Pastrnak that swiftly led to Marchand’s game-winning power-play goal.
• If I’m Keefe, I’m playing a very rested and very desperate Mark Giordano in Game 5.
Timothy Liljegren isn’t healthy. T.J. Brodie isn’t confident. Neither have been effective.
The Bruins blocked 27 shots in Game 4. The Leafs blocked just six.
Giordano will give the team everything he has.
