Bruins Breakdown Film Session: Sloppy PK leads to Sidney Crosby GWG (2-8-22)

The first game out the All-Star break turned out to be a disaster for the Bruins. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first thanks to two goals from David Pastrnak, the Bruins allowed 4 unanswered goals and fell to Pittsburgh, 4-2. Not only did they lose the game, they lost captain Patrice Bergeron to a likely concussion, Brad Marchand is facing another suspension for his late game antics, and Tuukka Rask is likely retiring due to injury. All in all not a great night for the Bruins or their fans.

A sloppy second period penalty kill lead to Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby scoring the game winning goal at 12:53 of the 2nd period. Time to break down what happened:

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/73d00e_bf256b007ee14a018a3555617241c8da/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Bruins penalty killers: Tomas Nosek, Curtis Lazar, Brandon Carlo, Derek Forbort

What happened?:

The play starts out with a dump in from Bryan Rust. It is soft enough and from a close enough distance that it takes any puck handling possibility from goaltender Jeremy Swayman out of the equation. The Bruins are actually in fairly good position here. While Rust is able to get around Carlo's attempted pick, Forbort is still the first on the puck and is able to eat it against the boards. Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby arrive to offer forecheck support, but Carlo and Curtis Lazar are in good position to create a 3 on 3 scrum down low.

The puck kicks loose to the corner, with Brandon Carlo seemingly in good position to get to the puck first and clear it out. This play really highlights the beauty of Sidney Crosby. Many have called him "the most skilled grinder in NHL history", and it is stuff like this that as always separated him from other highly skilled players. He continues his pursuit of the puck, gets good leverage on Carlo, and is able to impede him from making a play on the puck, creating a second scrum. This is a play the Bruins needs the 6'5 220 lb. Carlo to be a LOT stronger on the puck.

Despite Carlo getting knocked off his feet, the Bruins are still in good position here! It has evolved into more of a 2 on 2 in the corner, while Nosek and Forbort have their guys well covered. Unfortunately, the structure begins to break down here.

Puck battles, puck battles, puck battles. When you're down a man, winning the battles along the board are imperative to a successful penalty kill. First, Curtis Lazar is unable to find the puck and make a play on it. Second, Tomas Nosek loses Pens forward Evan Rodrigues juuuuuuuuust enough to allow him to the poke the puck down to Sidney Crosby. Losing both of these battles triggers the final sequence leading to the goal.

Two things here:

1. Curtis Lazar CANNOT puck watch like this. He completely loses Jake Guentzel coming off the boards.

2. That is an amazing pass by Kris Letang.

The Bruins actually get a lucky break here. Jake Guentzel feathers a beautiful pass to Bryan Rust through Derek Forbort in the mini 2-on-1. Swayman is fully committed to the shot from Guentzel, leaving Rust a wide open net. 9 out of 10 times he scores there, but he fouls it off the outside of the net.

This is very poor from Carlo and Lazar. They both sort of float back to the top of the crease and are staring at the puck. Sidney Crosby has already gone to the right spot and is in shooting position before has even gathered his rebound. If you are somewhat new to following the NHL, you should know that Sidney Crosby had 498 goals coming into last nights game. So what do you think happens next?

If you guessed "Crosby scores his 499th career goal", you are correct! By the time Carlo realizes he is not doing anything but staring at the puck it is far too late. While Jeremy Swayman actually loses his positioning a bit, his athleticism allows him to at least get back in position to make a stop. Unfortunately, a goal scorer as talented as Crosby isn't going to miss that from that spot. It ends up in the back of the net, giving the Penguins a lead that they would not relinquish.

Wrap Up: Losing battles and puck watching are a recipe for disaster against a team as talented as the Penguins. If the Bruins want to be a contender, they need to make sure sequences like this are few and far between.