On the cusp of the playoffs, it’s prudent to take a step back and assess how well the Bruins performed in various areas so as to understand what they might do going forward. Needless to say, after last season, when they rose from the gutters of the Eastern Conference to the top seed heading into the playoffs, this past season wasn’t the type of campaign local hockey fans were expecting

The Bruins returned to their own, patented blend of mediocrity this year in such a maddening fashion even the most devout fans found themselves wanting to scratch their eyesballs out. Boston finished at the bottom in the NHL in scoring with 196 regular-season goals, an astonishing 74 less than last year’s 270. Part of that can be attributed to the loss of young, disgruntled sniper Phil Kessel (36 goals) in a trade to Toronto, but most of it falls under the buzzwords of the season: injuries and inconsistency.

On the flip side, the B's defense (in terms of overall results) was just as good as last year. The two-headed goaltending monster that is Tuukka Rask and Tim Thomas led the team to a second-place finish in the William M. Jennings Trophy race (behind New Jersey) with 191 goals against. That would be one more than last season, when Thomas and Manny Fernandez won the Jennings Trophy with 190 goals allowed.

The splits are telling. The Bruins finish with 25 fewer points in the standings (from 116 to 91) with a goal differential that took a cliff dive from +78 to +6. That averages out to 2.88 goals per point in the difference between last year’s team and the one about to start the playoffs against the Sabres Thursday.

How did this drop occur? Let’s take a look at the report card from the entire regular season for some answers.

FORWARDS

First Line

Grade: Incomplete

The appropriate answer to the first-line forwards' play would be, “Of which first line do you speak, sir?”

The trio that propelled the Bruins attack last year — Kessel, Marc Savard and Milan Lucic — were pretty much nonexistent for large portions of the season. Savard ended up missing half the season (41 games) with a variety of ailments, notably a knee injury and then the Grade 2 concussion he suffered on March 7 after the Penguins’ Matt Cooke laid him out. A year after putting up 88 points with a plus-25, Savard produced about a third of that, 33 points at plus-2.

Then there was Lucic, who dealt with a severe ankle injury as well as a broken finger early in the year en route to 50 games with nine goals and 11 assists — one  year after putting up 42 points. Add to that the loss of Kessel’s 60 total points and the combined subtraction from the Bruins offense totals 137 points.

When looking where to place blame for the Bruins woes this season, the lack of an effective top line would be the best place to start.

Second Line

Grade: C

This could be considered the “Land of Disappearing Forwards.” David Krejci tried his best to power this oft-ineffective line through the year, but had consistent trouble trying to pull his wing mates of Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler along with him.

Part of Krejci’s problem this year was that he was not ready to fully step into Savard’s role when the top center went down for extended periods. Opposing teams could key on Krejci with their top defensive pairs and expose the Bruins lack of depth in the scoring department. It didn’t help that Krejci may have come back from offseason hip surgery earlier than he should have and was a touch slower at the start of the year. Since the Olympic break, the center looks like he has regained more of his 2008-09 form, and is one of the Bruins hottest players entering the playoffs. Taken alone, Krejci would deserve a solid B, but the overall performance of the line measured against expectations drags the grade down.

Wheeler and Ryder are different stories. Ryder has had a considerable drop off in his compete level, and as such, his production was about two-thirds of what it was last year (27 goals to 18). Ryder, supposed to be a sniper and scorer, was often held without shots for significant stretches.

Wheeler was a different story. He may have hit the sophomore slump or was just spending too much time around Ryder, but he spent a lot of year spinning his wheels without actually going anywhere. The Bruins should be concerned if the rookie they saw in 2008-09 (21 goals, 24 assists, plus-36) was the pinnacle of Wheelers’ career with the team. He has potential — coveted size, great skating and stick handling skills, but has been labeled soft in a league where that is not exactly a value trait.

Third Line

Grade: A–

Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi and Marco Sturm were the instigators behind almost every good thing that happened for the Bruins this year. Bergeron finally returned to form two years after sustaining his own Grade 3 concussion (with another mild one in the middle of last year) to become the type of player and person who the Bruins are proud to call their own.

Bergeron tied for the team lead in points with Krejci at 52 (though Krejci needed a flurry at the end to catch up) and has been the steadying influence for the team all season. He is a strong defensive player, a leader in the dressing room and a calming influence on the ice when things get hectic.

In that regard, the Bruins other veterans who share Bergeron’s characteristics were Sturm and — especially — Recchi. Sturm, a year after missing most of last season after undergoing knee surgery, led the Bruins in goals with 22. The only reason this line garners a minus attached to its’ A is because Sturm disappeared down the stretch (four goals since March 1) for a Boston team starved for scores and he did not actually come all that close to matching his career high in tallies of 28 or the two consecutive years of 27 he had before the knee injury.

Like Bergeron, Recchi has been a rock for Boston. At 42, he has proven to be an ageless wonder on the ice. Recchi always keeps his feet moving, knows his role on the ice (in front of the net) and has been a positive influence on the younger members of the team. His 18 goals and 43 points through 81 games have not been prolific, but he has filled his role on the team very well.

Miroslav Satan also falls into this group after having joined the Bruins in the middle of the season. After a slow start, the veteran Slovak has come up big for the Bruins down the stretch with game-winning goals and solid play all over the ice.

Grade: B

The fourth line, as it is with any NHL team, has been a rotation of role players all season for the Bruins. The mainstays have been Steve Begin, Shawn Thornton, Daniel Paille and Vladimir Sobotka, and all have played their parts well. Paille, acquired in late October from the Sabres, has been able to bounce between the third and fourth lines all year long and provide solid defense as well as big penalty-killing minutes. Begin has been unspectacular but relatively steady when he has been on the ice and has teamed with Paille on the penalty kill. Sobotka, who has seen steadier playing time in the absence of Savard, has become a face off specialist for the Bruins, an area that had been distinctly lacking on the team behind Bergeron.

Thornton is somewhat of an enigma in terms of his role. He is a nominal enforcer and defensive forward in a league where the tough guy is getting phased out. He is a poor skater by NHL standards, does not have scoring prowess and is an average passer. Yet, his presence on the roster is a value to the Bruins as he is great in the dressing room and has a high enough hockey IQ to be a pertinent in big situations. Thornton may not be the most glamorous player on the team, but he provides a lot of the glue that holds the roster together.

DEFENSE

Top Four Defense

Grade: B

One of the only reasons that this unit does not get an A is because of player time lost to injury and Dennis Wideman. Andrew Ference missed 31 games due to a torn abductor and hernia and Mark Stuart has missed 26 games with odd injuries such as a broken sternum, broken finger and then an infection in that same finger. Their loss has made the second pair a complete crapshoot for most of the year, a rotation between Wideman, Ference and Stuart that has been effective at times and highly suspect at times.

Wideman went from a career year in 2008-09 to a pariah this season. For considerable stretches he admitted that his compete level was not where it should have been, and his decision making in the defensive zone has been poor for most of the season. Coach Claude Julien has stuck by Wideman the way a baseball manager sticks with a struggling slugger and has been rewarded with his loyalty in the last few weeks of the season when Wideman has had to pick up his play after Ference, Stuart and Dennis Seidenberg went down for extended periods of time.

When Stuart and Ference have been on the ice, they have been solid mid-level NHL defensemen. Ference has the ability to play a No. 3 to a No. 6 (with his greatest value in the middle of that) and Stuart has come on this year to fulfill some of his first round potential and log big minutes as a bona fide No. 3 stay at home defenseman.

The pillar of the entire system though has been captain Zdeno Chara. The towering Slovak has not had the greatest year defending his Norris Trophy, but a mediocre Chara is still much better than most other top defensemen in the league. Chara suffered through most of the year with a perpendicular (torn tendons) pinky that bothered him from November to late February and may require surgery after the season.

Chara’s blue line partnership has been split between Derek Morris (58 games) and Seidenberg (17 games) and both have played relatively well. If Julien could go back to last August and pick one of the two to keep all year, he probably would have picked Seidenberg for his natural right point pair (with left-handed shot) and physicality that Morris sometimes lacked.

Anyway it can be broken down, the top four defensemen on the Bruins were prime contributors (despite their various individual flaws) to holding opponents to 191 goals this year.

Bottom Pair Defense

Grade: C+

Taken alone, Matt Hunwick would probably garner a D+ this year after seeming significantly overwhelmed at times in his second season. He is still an NHL-level blueliner, just not one who should be relied upon with significant minutes if it can be avoided (which it could not at times, especially with the late season injuries).

The grade for the bottom pair is brought up by the upstart play of rookie Johnny Boychuk later in the season. After being a healthy scratch for most of the first half of the season, Boychuk has been big for the Bruins down the stretch, as he has used his size, hockey IQ and booming shot to be a significant player. His future projects to be a top-four defenseman in Boston which might make Stuart (a restricted free agent) expendable.

GOALTENDING

Grade: A+

Rask has been a revelation late in the season and is a strong counterpoint to reigning Vezina Trophy winner Thomas. Where Rask is confident, cool, calm and composed, Thomas is emotional on and off the ice and his style can be beautiful or infuriating.

Either way, they add up to be pretty damn good. Rask leads the league in both goals against average (1.97) and save percentage (.931) and is the hotter of the pair between the pipes. He will be the one to carry the Bruins through the playoffs if they can sustain a run.

Eventually, Boston and GM Peter Chiarelli are going to have to face down the albatross that is the rest of Thomas’s 4-year $20 million contract. He has, perhaps unfairly, gained the ire of Bruins fans because of the contract and his inconsistent play this year, but when he is running hot he is still one of the best in the league.

COACHING

Grade: B–

This has not been a great season to be behind the bench for the Bruins. Julien has done well in keeping his defensive system running efficiently, considering the injuries the team has faced this year. At the same time, certain players on his team have quit on him for large stretches of the year. There was a mild spat in the middle of January where Julien called Wideman out in the media for not playing up to par. Then there was the amazing disappearing act of Ryder, a player who has been a favorite of Julien’s through various systems in their careers.

When it is sliced apart, the 25-point difference from year to year is the what brings Julien’s grade so low. He has become a victim of high expectations. The Bruins were supposed to be Stanley Cup contenders and are likely to soon be also-rans. He dealt with injury, but not all of the inconsistency of the team can be laid solely at the feet of the players.