Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron silent in double-OT loss to Blue Jackets
“It’s frustrating, but there are ways to generate more."
Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand have been unusually quiet. Too quiet. And when we have heard their names, it’s been for the wrong reasons.
It was still early, of course, and things were subject to change with a well-timed snap of the wrist. But through two games of the Bruins’ Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series with the Blue Jackets — which is now tied at one game apiece after Columbus’s 3-2 win in double overtime at TD Garden on Saturday night — Bergeron and Marchand are still searching for their first point.
Worse, both players committed penalties that led to Blue Jacket goals.
Columbus’s first goal, one of two Artemi Panarin tallies on the night, came early in the second period with Marchand in the penalty box for an ill-advised cross check
But that was nothing compared to the winner, Matt Duchene’s power-play goal in the second overtime. Columbus had the man-advantage because Bergeron was in the box for tripping Seth Jones, the Blue Jackets defenseman falling to the ice after Bergeron’s stick ended up between his legs.
“You work hard to put yourself in position throughout a tight game,’’ said Bergeron, who didn’t dispute that it was a penalty. “That’s one of those plays you make many times and it never happens, but it’s part of the game.’’
Bergeron lamented the Bruins’ missed opportunities, many of which were his own. Bergeron had four chances to end the game in the first overtime, but Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky thwarted him three times and a fourth shot hit the post.
“It’s frustrating, but there are ways to generate more,’’ he said. “We can find the inside a little bit more against them.’’
But that’s not what the Bruins are looking for from the two linemates and stalwarts, who totaled 68 goals and 111 assists between them in the regular season, and the lack of production is not something that usually happens for long from the two proven postseason performers.
Both delivered in the seven-game series victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round. Marchand was the Bruins’ top scorer in the series with four goals and five assists, while Bergeron had three goals — including one in Game 7 — and four assists.
So far, John Tortorella’s gritty Blue Jackets, who sometimes seem as satisfied by blocking a shot as they are scoring a goal, have kept Bergeron and Marchand in check.
Said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, “In a short sample you can pick apart their production, but sometimes you’ve just got to tip your cap to the goalie.’’
The duo combined for six shots on goal in Game 1 — three apiece. They had seven between them (four by Marchand) though the first 80 minutes of Game 2, but nothing to show for it.
The Bruins did get a goal from one of their marquee stars, though it came via blade of his skate rather than his stick. David Pastrnak scored his third goal of the postseason at 2:01 of the second period when Charlie Coyle’s backhand flip on a wraparound attempt deflected off his skate and into the net.
That goal, which was initially credited to Coyle, put the Bruins up, 2-1. The tally was a timely answer to what happened just 58 seconds earlier, when Panarin got the Blue Jackets’ first of the night on the power play (Marchand was in the box) with a wicked one-timer past Tuukka Rask off a Jones feed.
Cassidy moved Pastrnak — the Bruins’ leading goal scorer during the regular season, with 38 in 66 games — around, ostensibly to provide balanced scoring. But he hasn’t quite been himself since coming back from a thumb injury late in the regular season.
“Maybe that bounce off the skate is all he needs to get going,’’ said Cassidy.
Now if there’s something that can get Marchand and Bergeron going, too.
