31 Takes: Bruins need more from top line

It’s always nice for teams to get contributions from their depth players in the postseason. That’s what you need to win.

It goes without saying, though, that you also need contributions from your top players. And for both big chunks of the series against the Maple Leafs and also the first two games against Columbus, the Bruins’ best players haven’t really shown up. Brad Marchand had a big Game 7, in addition to two other strong games, and you need that. David Pastrnak was great in Game 4, and scored (albeit accidentally) in Game 2 on Saturday. Patrice Bergeron has a single point at 5-on-5, a secondary assist, in this postseason.

It’s all well and good for Charlie Coyle to spend a good chunk of the last few games looking like Connor McDavid but you need more production from David Krejci and the top line as well. You need Zdeno Chara to not look 43. You need Charlie McAVoy to not get turnstiled.

These have been two games decided in almost two and a half games’ worth of hockey, so the margins are relatively narrow. The Bruins — perhaps because they’ve enjoyed home ice and thus last change — have mostly outplayed Columbus twice. But bad penalties, a worse PK, an inability to get production out of the top forwards on the team, great goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky, and another star performance from Artemi Panarin will get you every time.

It’s arguably not that big of a deal. Columbus is a really good, deep, talented team that has shown it can more than go punch for punch with the best clubs in the league. In their three meetings — all after the trade deadline, when Columbus was essentially remade — the Bruins ended up plus-2 in goals, with on of those coming in OT, and the Blue Jackets went 1-1-1.

So these are relatively even teams that have now played five games and gone to overtime in three of them. And you certainly have to acknowledge that sometimes your best players just aren’t going to score even as they do a good job of keeping the puck away from their net. Basically everyone on the Bruins is a mile above 50 percent in shot attempts, but Chara is well below that mark in all-situations xGF% because he’s been on the ice for three Columbus goals, two of them on the PK.

Bergeron and Pastrnak both have seven scoring attempts at 5-on-5 alone, and have combined for seven high-dangers, while Marchand has three and one. Respectable numbers and obviously Pastrnak was in the right place at the right time for his goal, but they have to be better. Krejci doesn’t have a high-danger shot attempt at 5-on-5 yet. Jake DeBrusk isn’t moving the needle at all offensively, and his inexplicable lack of a shot on his 1-on-1 break against Bobrovsky seems like a canary in the coal mine for what’s going on here. Torey Krug is generating zero offense on the power play, where you need him to generate a lot of offense. You can go on like this.

On the balance, the Bruins are outplaying the Blue Jackets by a decent enough margin (plus-1.27 expected goals) and their best players have been part of that. But when the entire team can’t turn the expected goals into actual ones, largely because your stars aren’t putting the puck in the net, it’s a major concern.

On the one hand you gotta tip your hat to Bobrovsky, who’s been stellar since the beginning of February — .930 across the regular season and playoffs. But on the other, you need to do more than just generate scoring chances.

Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnak carried this team into the second round last year almost by themselves, and it’s nice that teammates are returning the favor. But when you don’t have everyone going at the same time, the second round is as far as you’ll usually go.

31 Takes: Playoff Edition

Boston Bruins: I would say there has been too great an emphasis on playing physically and setting the tone and all that. It’s good to do that kind of thing as a general rule but when that’s one of the goals as a group, it often seems like the game is going to get away from you. See: The Marchand crosscheck that ended the first period and resulted in the power play Panarin converted. Just my thoughts but you often see this Bruins team get too much in its own head about being tough to play against, often to its detriment.

Carolina Hurricanes: The Hurricanes’ room is starting to look like an infirmary ward but they’ve gotten big games out of their goalies to start this series and sometimes that’s all you need. On the balance of the 124 minutes, the Islanders look like the better team: 20 extra scoring chances, 14 extra high-dangers, etc. But they’re running into brick walls in Games 1 and 2. One goal against on 58 shots is gonna get it done every time.

Colorado Avalanche: On the one hand it’s nice to be able to reach into your back pocket and say, “Well we need a goal so we’ll just put the best line in hockey together again,” and it works every time. But also, maybe just keep that line together? Seems like it would make sense.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Sergei Bobrovsky has now conceded just five goals on 68 shots in this young series, and if your goalie is going to go .926 for you on the road to open a playoff series, you’re in great shape. The Bruins could absolutely make it tougher on him, but he’s been great. And with that said, any team that gives him Carey Price money is asking to have buyer’s remorse within three seasons.

Dallas Stars: Jordan Binnington doesn’t need to be elite most of the time, but Ben Bishop has kinda necessitated that the rookie step up his game. You’re always going to have a chance when your goalie stops 30-plus a night. Pretty simply formula.

New York Islanders: I loved Barry Trotz saying the Hurricanes only played 48 seconds of good hockey on Sunday. Not really right, and definitely not material since his team has a single goal in more than six periods of hockey. And that goal, on the power play, didn’t even go in off an Islanders stick. Weird that Coaching Genius Who Should Win The Jack Adams Barry Trotz only just thought of putting one of like four offensively talented players on his team on the top power play unit, but hey, that’s hockey.

San Jose Sharks: I guess this whole thing is where the subjectivity of hybrid icing breaks down but it’s not like regular icing wasn’t subjective and maybe try playing to the whistle. Just my thoughts.

St. Louis Blues: They’re up 2-1, but they’re not doing what they did so well in the regular season, by preventing high-danger scoring chances. They’ve given Dallas 47 in three games. Of that number, 34 were at 5-on-5. Not making Binnington’s job easy, that’s for sure.

Gold Star Award

Hard to overstate how good Panarin was on Saturday night. What a player. Enjoy it while ya can, Columbus.

Minus of the Weekend

Looks like my “Isles in 7” pick isn’t going well. Hate to see that.

Play of the Weekend

Thought it was maybe a little over the top the way the NBC broadcast talked about Curtis McElhinney coming into the game after Petr Mrazek’s injury like it was one of the great accomplishments in human history, but you gotta say: He was great.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User “Trinity” is dropping a bomb. (This is a great joke.)

Maybe.

Signoff

Gar, have ye tried a Baltic squid? They can suck the bolts out of a submarine’s hull.

Ryan Lambert is a Yahoo! Sports hockey columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

More NHL coverage on Yahoo Sports