The polarizing world of social media provides a platform for a variety of hot debatable topics. Example: Tuukka Rask.
David Krejci drew some of that debate over his Boston tenure. But with a pair of stellar toolsets skating alongside him in Craig Smith and Taylor Hall, he deservingly earned praise throughout Bruins’ social media late in the regular season.
In turn, ‘Playoff Krech’ became a hot topic of conversation leading up to Boston’s fifth straight postseason appearance. But as one who lets his play do the proverbial talking, the crafty Czech playmaker hardly appeared flattered upon hearing that aforementioned phrase during Monday’s pregame availability.
“I don’t really pay attention to that to be honest with you,” Krejci said. “I don’t look at the internet much. I’m just trying to focus on each game. Whatever happens the game before, I forget about it and get ready for the next one.”
Ah, yes, the whole one game at a time cliche. Yet, it’s quite a productive philosophy for Krejci and the Bruins.
They put their Game 1 overtime loss in the proverbial rearview mirror following their film session. The Bruins need more production and scoring chances from their top-six as the top two lines struggled to generate quality opportunities against a rusty Craig Anderson and a heavy Caps bunch.
Hall and Smith both provided something to build on with their Game 1 effort. David Pastrnak even found himself with a quality scoring chance or two in front of Anderson. But Krejci, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand — three of the four remaining regulars from the 2011 Stanley Cup squad — hardly found room to work with, combining for three shots on net.
Clearly, the top-six need to adjust their strategy for Monday’s tilt in DC. Yet, in typical ‘Playoff Krech’ form, the veteran remained non-committal to revealing specific improvements ahead of Game 2.
“We watched some videos yesterday and this morning,” Krejci said. “We’ll try to do the things we talked about, and we addressed some things where we need to get better, so…”
“Any areas specifically where you think you can get better,” asked one Boston-based reporter on the Zoom conference.
“Oh yeah for sure,” Krejci added. “We’ll try to do that tonight.”
Luckily for the media, Bruce Cassidy provides some specific areas of improvement.
“More urgency,” Cassidy said of the adjustments needed for Game 2. “I think part of our plan is we wanted to manage pucks. We thought they were a quick strike team. We wanted to stay out of their box because of their power play. And I think we did both of those things. Unfortunately, we didn’t do enough attacking when the situation was there, and I thought we had opportunities to be more physical at times. I think we got our share of hits as the game went on, but early on we could establish a little more of that.”
Washington’s physicality shined early when Alex Ovechkin leveled Krejci with a clean hit. The Bruins delivered a few counterpunches of their own, all while only serving one penalty.
Yet, with Anderson replacing an injured Vitek Vanecek for Game 2, the Bruins need to take advantage of his rebound susceptibility. A good bounce-back effort from ‘Playoff Krech’ and the rest of the top-six will only help Boston’s cause, as they hope to return home with a split in the nation’s capital.
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