It's fair to wonder how differently Game 4 might have gone for the Blue Jackets in a parallel universe, one in which the NHL saw fit to suspend Brad Marchand for punching an unsuspecting Columbus defenseman in the back of the head.
Granted, Tuukka Rask was brilliant, and the Jackets' only goal on 40 shots was the direct result of an egregious officiating error. But the Bruins' 4-1 win made clear that in a series where each goalie — Rask and Sergei Bobrovsky — has starred, their greatest advantage is the capability of their best forwards to take over at a moment's notice.
With Marchand let off unscathed, Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy reunited him, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak on Thursday after deploying that trio sparingly at even strength in Games 1, 2, and 3. Neither Marchand nor Bergeron had registered a point in this series alongside fill-in linemate Danton Heinen, and it didn't take them long at all to atone for that shortfall.
Kirk Irwin / Getty Images
By combining to score three goals, two of which rippled the twine behind Bobrovsky before the game was eight minutes old, Marchand, Bergeron, and Pastrnak finally mustered a sufficient response to Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, and Cam Atkinson, whose cumulative offensive production — four goals and five assists entering the night — had helped power Columbus to a 2-1 series lead.
Each of those goals developed through tidy combination play. On the first, Pastrnak buried a cross-ice pass from Charlie McAvoy from the left faceoff circle as Marchand and Bergeron occupied attention on the weak side. Marchand set up Bergeron for his first power-play tally; Bergeron's second came courtesy of a rebound Pastrnak created with a lethal one-timer.
Patrice Bergeron with a big PP goal for the @NHLBruins. 🚨
Keep your stars together and let them go to work. It's a simple formula that can work wonders, especially when the goalie behind them is operating on a higher plane. Eleven of the 40 shots Rask faced were high-danger, and he turned each and every one of them aside, upping his save percentage in the series to a sparkling .942 (and .952 at even-strength).
In one way, Game 4 lent credence to the thought that Rask's improved play in the postseason shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Though his .912 save percentage in the regular season was a career low, he was a .925 netminder at even strength, a number worthy of a great deal more respect.
The area where Rask faltered was on shorthanded opportunities the Bruins' aggressive power play tended to concede. After allowing a league-high 12 goals this season when his team had a man advantage, he reversed that trend in Game 4 by stonewalling the Blue Jackets on five shorthanded scoring chances, including a crucial blocker save on Boone Jenner's penalty shot in the first period.
Kirk Irwin / Getty Images
Bobrovsky has been no slouch himself, recording a .933 save percentage (.951 at even-strength) to this point in the series. He'll be an early Conn Smythe Trophy candidate if the Jackets wind up advancing to the third round.
Now that these series are deadlocked after four games, it's interesting to contrast Boston-Columbus with the St. Louis Blues' ongoing showdown with the Dallas Stars. That matchup features two goaltenders — Jordan Binnington and Ben Bishop — who were expected to excel after looking unbeatable for much of the season.
Instead, each of them has been pedestrian, while Rask and Bobrovsky duel out east. If the Carolina Hurricanes finish off the New York Islanders sometime in the next week, their opponent in the Eastern Conference Final will likely be the team whose goalie doesn't regress first.
What else is worth watching for in Game 5 and beyond? The special-teams battle may finally be tilting in the Bruins' favor. Their power play was the NHL's third-strongest this season, but after clicking on seven of 16 opportunities in Round 1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, it had managed just one goal in its first 10 tries against Columbus.
Credit the Jackets on that front: their penalty kill was tops in the league this year. It took Bergeron's resounding entrance into the series to solve Bobrovsky and that fearsome unit. Such is the benefit of having great offensive players.
Following the 4-1 win, the Bruins goaltender said it's "crazy" that Blue Jackets forward Artemi Panarin's goal couldn't be looked at after the fact, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
Panarin's first-period goal wasn't reviewed even though the puck touched the netting protecting spectators earlier in the play. The officials didn't initially see it hit the netting, and the play wasn't eligible for video review.
Rask admitted postgame he didn't notice it, either.
“If I saw it, then I would have probably slammed the stick and chased the refs," the netminder said.
Renowned neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee claims NHL commissioner Gary Bettman inaccurately described what she told him seven years ago when he recalled their discussion during his testimony in Ottawa this week.
"Mr. Bettman misrepresented our 2012 conversation," McKee wrote in a statement Thursday, according to TSN's Rick Westhead. "Our research at Boston University and the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank clearly shows that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is associated with ice hockey play."
While testifying before a subcommittee on sports-related concussions on Parliament Hill Wednesday, Bettman gave his account of their meeting.
"Dr. Ann McKee ... told me in my office that hockey and football are not the same," the commissioner said. "We don't have the repetitive head contact and impact that some of the other sports do. While we understand that this is an issue that needs to be constantly followed and focused on, there have not been conclusive determinations."
McKee, an expert in degenerative brain conditions who was named one of TIME's 100 most influential people in 2018, outlined the evidence that supports her conclusion.
"We have found CTE in every former NHL player we have examined and we have also found it in amateur hockey players, some of whom had no significant fighting exposure," she wrote in Thursday's statement. "We would be delighted to have Mr. Bettman visit the Brain Bank and discuss our research on CTE and repetitive brain trauma so that any future statements will more accurately reflect the state of the science."
Bettman also testified Wednesday that he believes banning hits to the head would eliminate body checking altogether.
The Columbus Blue Jackets appear to have caught a major break early in Game 4 on Thursday night.
Facing a 2-0 deficit in the first period, Artemi Panarin bagged his fifth goal of the playoffs to get the Jackets on the board, except the referees didn't notice the puck deflected into the spectator netting earlier in the play.
The refs didn't see the puck went out of play and it was not eligible for video review.
The NHL has already received criticism for its review policies during this year's playoffs, as the inability to look at a missed call in the third period of Game 7 between the San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights drastically changed the outcome of the series.
In this episode, theScore colleagues Josh Wegman and Sean O'Leary join John to discuss the early stages of the postseason's second round. Topics include:
Former NHL defenseman John Erskine was severely injured in a highway accident early Wednesday morning, his former agent, Pat Morris, confirmed to TSN's Rick Westhead.
According to the Ontario Provincial Police, a collision occurred at 12:48 a.m. Wednesday morning on Highway 401 near the town of Napanee, Ont., after a pickup truck collided with a transport truck while driving the wrong way in the eastbound lanes.
Morris said his former client is hospitalized with severe injuries but did not have any further information.
Police arrested the driver of the pickup truck, a 38-year-old man from Elginburg, Ont., at the scene of the collision. He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the OPP. The driver of the transport truck was not injured.
An investigation into the accident continues and charges have not yet been laid, OPP spokeswoman Const. Shannon Cork told Westhead on Thursday.
A second-round pick of the Dallas Stars in 1998, Erskine played 491 NHL contests split between the Stars, New York Islanders, and Washington Capitals. The Kingston, Ont., native last played in the league in April 2014.
Hockey Hall of Famer Red Kelly died Thursday at the age of 91, his family announced.
Kelly spent the first 13 years of his career as a Detroit Red Wings defenseman, winning four Stanley Cups, three Lady Byng trophies, and one Norris Trophy, and collecting 472 points in 846 games along the way.
The Simcoe, Ontario native played the next eight years with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs moved him to center and he succeeded after the position change, tallying 351 points in 470 games while adding another Lady Byng and four more Stanley Cups to his resume.
Kelly won more Stanley Cups than any player in NHL history to not play for the Montreal Canadiens.
He also enjoyed a 10-year coaching career. The legend even dipped his toes into politics before his playing days ended, as he was elected to the House of Commons in 1962.
Kelly was named to the "100 Greatest NHL Players" list in 2017. Both the Maple Leafs and Red Wings have retired his No. 4.
More than 200 of the world's top female hockey players have agreed to boycott North American professional leagues for the 2019-2020 season in an effort to alter the direction of women's hockey and push for a sustainable professional league.
"We will not play in any professional leagues in North America this season until we get the resources that professional hockey demands and deserves," read a prepared statement published Thursday morning.
"We cannot make a sustainable living playing in the current state of the professional game. Having no health insurance and making as low as $2,000 a season means players can't adequately train and prepare to play at the highest level," the statement adds.
"It's time for a long-term, viable professional league that will showcase the greatest product of women's professional hockey in the world."
The NWHL is the only remaining professional women's league. The Canadian Women's Hockey League folded March 31 after 12 years of operation.
"The thought of not playing in a pro league is daunting and nerve-racking," said Knight, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie. "But we firmly believe we're doing the right thing for our sport and that when we do play, we will do so in a league that embodies the values of our game.
"We can see where our game is now and where it has to be in order to be sustainable in the long term."
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has repeatedly stated the NHL will not involve itself in the operations of the NWHL. The NHL previously gave $50,000 annually to both the CWHL and the NWHL, upping its NWHL contribution to $100,000 after the CWHL ceased operations.
The night the San Jose Sharks shot seven pucks past Michael DiPietro, his phone wouldn't stop pinging with messages of consolation.
The Vancouver Canucks prospect got lit up in his surprise NHL debut at age 19. Without a healthy backup goalie available, he was stranded in the crease for all 60 minutes of what became a 7-2 loss.
"You don't see many of those in the Ontario Hockey League," Sportsnet color commentator John Garrett said on the Canucks' TV broadcast after Evander Kane scored San Jose's fourth goal on a nasty top-shelf wrister.
DiPietro's family and friends were sad and sorry about the barrage to which he'd been subjected. His perspective, though, was radically different.
Jeff Vinnick / National Hockey League / Getty Images
"I played one of the best teams in the NHL, a veteran lineup, and I had a ton of fun doing it," DiPietro says now. "It was a dream come true, and the teammates in Vancouver were absolutely phenomenal with me, keeping my spirits up and cheering me on.
"I let in seven goals, but looking back on it, those seven goals I can learn from."
It's unlikely that any player in hockey has experienced as wild a season as DiPietro, the Canucks' possible netminder of the future. In late December and early January, he endeared himself to Canada by allowing a mere five goals on 103 shots at the world junior championship in Vancouver. One of those goals, however, was an inconceivably fluky ricochet off an opponent's skate in a 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Finland.
TSN
Canucks fans were reintroduced to DiPietro on Feb. 4, when the team, beset by goalie injuries, summoned him from the OHL's Ottawa 67s to back up Jacob Markstrom. The Windsor, Ontario, native would watch and learn from the bench for a couple of weeks as Thatcher Demko nursed a sprained knee.
That was the plan - at least until Feb. 11, when Markstrom's back began to spasm and DiPietro was forced to face Kane, Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier, and Joe Pavelski, a quartet of 30-goal scorers who all beat him at least once that night.
Those experiences against Finland and San Jose might have tanked most other teenagers' play, but few prospects seem to be wired like DiPietro,the OHL's goalie of the year in 2017-18.A 6-footer, he's long been knocked for being short for the position, but he's always felt mature for his age. He says he thrives on pressure - "Call me crazy, call me whatever, but that's just something I love to do" - and considers his battle and his drive to be the twin attributes that define his game.
"I'll do whatever it takes to stop a puck," he says.
That mentality has translated into consistently positive results for his whole junior career, which itself has been anything but typical. In 2016-17, DiPietro backstopped his hometown Windsor Spitfires to a Memorial Cup championship - before he ever won an OHL playoff series. (Windsor lost in the first round and spent the next 44 days practicing before playing in the national tournament as hosts.) The Canucks drafted him 64th overall in 2017.
Michael DiPietro's 2018-19 season
Sept. 20
Windsor Spitfires open OHL season
Dec. 4
Spitfires trade DiPietro to Ottawa 67s
Dec. 10
Canada's world-junior selection camp begins
Dec. 14
DiPietro named to Team Canada
Dec. 26
World juniors begin in Vancouver
Jan. 2
Canada loses 2-1 to Finland in quarterfinals
Feb. 4
Canucks recall DiPietro from 67s
Feb. 11
DiPietro allows 7 goals in emergency NHL debut
Feb. 13
Canucks return DiPietro to 67s
March 17
67s finish with OHL's best record (50-12-6)
March 27
67s sweep Hamilton Bulldogs in Round 1
April 11
67s sweep Sudbury Wolves in Round 2
April 24
67s sweep Oshawa Generals in Round 3
The rebuilding Spitfires traded DiPietro to the ascendant 67s shortly before he left for the world juniors this past December, which brings us to the final phase of his one-of-a-kind season. By winning 12 consecutive games to open the OHL playoffs - sweeping three Eastern Conference opponents in the process - DiPietro and Ottawa are within striking distance of a Memorial Cup trip of their own.
"In the playoffs, right now, I think we're seeing what he's really all about," says 67s head coach Andre Tourigny, whose team will face the Western Conference champion Guelph Storm in the OHL's best-of-seven final starting Thursday.
"He's making key saves, keeping us in the game all the time. The more the game is on the line, the better he is."
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
Facing an average of 28 shots per game, DiPietro has recorded a .913 save percentage in these playoffs. In the high-scoring OHL, that slots him third among goalies whose team advanced past the first round. In Game 4 of the second round, his 58 saves powered Ottawa to a 3-2 triple-overtime win that eliminated the Sudbury Wolves. Their starter, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, tended goal for Finland when that team won gold at the world juniors and was picked 10 spots ahead of DiPietro in the 2017 draft.
What skills have enabled DiPietro to become a junior star since the Canucks selected him? Different observers point to different strengths. Tourigny praises DiPietro's reaction time, lateral quickness, and competitiveness. DiPietro's agent, Darren Ferris, lauds his client's technical ability, his character, and his insatiable desire to excel and to win.
Season
GP
SV%
OHL rank (min. 25 GP)
2015-16
29
.912
6th
2016-17
51
.917
3rd
2017-18
56
.910
5th
2018-19
38
.911
3rd
DiPietro's drive helped convince Hockey Canada head scout Brad McEwen to invite him to the country's two most recent world-junior selection camps. His assessment: DiPietro doesn't get rattled and finds a way to make saves on broken plays, a trait that compensates for his relative lack of size.
DiPietro was a late cut from Canada's 2018 world junior team. (Philadelphia Flyers rookie Carter Hart wound up leading the team to gold, supplemented by Dallas Stars prospect Colton Point.) But he handled his release graciously, and by the time DiPietro left the Canadians' pre-tournament headquarters, McEwen was already confident he'd want him to start the following year.
"If there's anybody that can handle adversity, it's Michael," says Ferris, whose DHG Sports Agency also represents Taylor Hall, Mitch Marner, and several other NHLers.
"It's going to be an easy transition for him (to professional hockey). His next steps, the path he has to take, I think, will probably be a lot more accommodating for him because of his maturity. He handles everything just like a pro."
DiPietro takes a little time to respond to a letter he received with a hand written note back. Not too many people would take the time to do this, Mikey isn’t like most people. pic.twitter.com/k0SB9Lc0Wv
When DiPietro was 5, his mother, Rebecca, died of cancer. He says now that he had to grow up quickly and that his father, Vic, raised him to eschew excuses and instilled in him the belief that he could handle any challenge.
A few years later, Vic married Assunta Fenty, whose son Mark used to be a goalie. At one of Mark's games about a decade ago, DiPietro - a young defenseman at the time - was watching raptly from the stands when his older stepbrother stoned an opponent on a breakaway.
In that moment, DiPietro knew he wanted to switch positions.
"He likes to be the guy everyone looks to: 'Listen - I got your back,'" Vic DiPietro says. And as a goalie who isn't 6-foot-5, Vic continued, he's also come to enjoy proving doubters wrong.
"Not in an arrogant way, of course," Vic says. "Just (by) going to work."
On the evening of Feb. 11, Vic and Assunta were sitting at their dinner table in Amherstburg, near Windsor, when Michael told them that Canucks coach Travis Green had tabbed him to start that night against the Sharks. There was no way to foresee this turn of events, so they were limited to watching his first NHL game on TV.
Jeff Vinnick / National Hockey League / Getty Images
After the final buzzer, Michael, his dad, and his agent all concluded that the blowout constituted an opportunity for growth. The Sharks scored on five of their nine high-danger shots on goal - "He was taking shots no goalie should be taking, in my opinion," Ferris says - and demonstrated to him just how fast NHL action can move.
"For a young kid to step in and take that kind of workload right off the bat, it's kind of difficult," Ferris says. "I think it'll benefit him in the long run."
Barring another emergency recall, it might be a few years before DiPietro's parents get to witness his second NHL appearance. The Canucks have Markstrom signed through next year, and Demko, who is 23 years old, has two seasons left on his entry-level contract. In April, Vancouver nabbed 22-year-old NCAA star Jake Kielly in free agency after a superlative season at Clarkson University.
Like Demko, most netminders begin their pro careers with extensive seasoning in the minors. Hart, who started 30 games for the Flyers from late December onward, was the only goalie younger than age 22 to log significant time in the NHL this season. Come fall, it seems likely that DiPietro will share a crease with Kielly on the Utica Comets, Vancouver's American Hockey League affiliate.
For now, his focus is the OHL final, and the last, pivotal month of a whirlwind campaign. This "crazy" season has taught him about the need for a player to be adaptable, he says. It also has crystallized the vision he has for his future.
"Once you have a taste (of the NHL), that's all you want," DiPietro says. "That's something I'm going to (use to) push myself this summer: to make sure I surprise a few people at camp, and, hopefully, do my thing and make sure I have a good transition to pro hockey.
"I want to be the best I can possibly be. At the end of the day, I don't want anybody feeling sorry for me."
Welcome to Art of the Mask, a video series in which theScore sits down with some of the world's top netminders to talk about goalie mask art.
In Episode 4, Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Garret Sparks walks us through the finer details of two masks he wore during the 2018-19 season. From graffiti to Fortnite to Illinois to the Humboldt Broncos, Sparks is inspired by a variety of things - and it shows in his mask art.
