The lead storyline heading into the Bruins’ return to Garden action on Thursday is the reconstruction of the top two lines, with David Pastrnak dropping down to play with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk bumping up to play with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.
But an interesting subplot developed at Wednesday’s practice. Coach Bruce Cassidy put Trent Frederic back up with Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith, recreating that third line that brings a sought-after heavy quality and which yielded some success when it was together earlier in the season. Anders Bjork skated on the fourth line with Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner.
Cassidy had been toying with creating a big third line since back in the bubble, and while he didn’t commit to anything long-term, he’s got the tools to do it now. And though Cassidy didn’t have Coyle’s slow start to the season (2-2-4, 21 shots in 14 games) in mind when he put the line back together, Coyle did play some of his best hockey when it was together.
“Freddy’s a big body and we were hoping to build a line like that. Some injuries forced us to take a different path and now we’re getting back to being closer to full health, so we’ll move it back and forth,” said Cassidy on Wednesday. “I also like Freddy sometimes learning the game down on that fourth line. Playing against good players, you’re playing more of a defensive role and he’s learning it from a couple of guys that have been doing it. So there are a couple of things that go into it. We’re trying to get him to be the best player he can be, trust him in all situations till he finds his offensive game, so we’ll use him on both lines. I don’t think it’s by any means to get Charlie going. Charlie’s the driver of that line. He understands that. That responsibility usually goes with the centerman and hopefully there’s some chemistry with Smitty. Whether it’s Bjork or Freddy, I still think Charlie has to be the driver of that line.”
When the line was briefly together, it contributed greatly to one of the B’s most dominant wins of the season, a 6-1 drubbing of the Flyers in which all three players picked up points.
“Sometimes you click right away with guys, sometimes it takes a little bit. But we just read off each other pretty well. We had a couple of good games there. We found the score sheet. We had some good shifts and I don’t think we gave up a whole lot, either,” said Coyle. “Smitty’s been around a little bit, same with me. And Freddy, just for a younger guy, he talks a lot, which is great. We pick each other’s brains on the bench, between plays, practice, whatever it is. And that helps, too. And they’re easy guys to get along with and try to gain that chemistry.”
A new Looch?
One of the early success stories of the season has been the emergence of Nick Ritchie as a top-six forward. He was given the opportunity to skate with Krejci and play on the first power-play unit, and so far, he’s given Cassidy no reason to take away either of those assignments.
His play when he was first obtained and then in the playoff bubble was decidedly uneven. But management and the coaching staff stuck with him and Ritchie (5-5-10 in 14 games) has held up his end of the bargain.
When talking about Ritchie’s potential ceiling, Cassidy invoked a name from the team’s not-too-distant glory days.
“The obvious comparable here in Boston is he’s got some (Milan) Lucic in him,” said Cassidy. “Lucic, when he got a head of steam, was a faster player, but Ritch is working on that part. I think he understands that he has to be in motion more often. That’s what we’re trying to get him to buy into. He certainly has the hands to finish around the net, he has the willingness to stick his nose in there, so I guess that would be the easiest comparable because, A, Looch played so long here and B, there’s just not that many big guys like Ritch anymore in the league. The league has gotten smaller, quicker, fast so some of those guys have gotten phased out. But he still has a lot of value to our team and I think most teams would say that about their bigger-body guys. That’s how we look at him. How he would fit in best with Krejci or Coyle or even down with Kuraly? We didn’t 100% know. We just felt that if we got him feeling good about his game — because he does have good hands, makes good plays on the wall, sees the ice — that he could be an offensive piece.”
Home sweet home
Because of three postponements, the B’s will be playing their first game at the Garden since Jan. 28 on Thursday against the Devils, who scored a win over the Rangers on Tuesday in their first game back from a long COVID-forced hiatus. The B’s are 4-0 at the Garden.
“Interesting. Yeah, it’s been awhile. We came out of that homestand and we were really playing well. We found our game after an uneven start on the road. But it’ll be nice to be back. It’s not the same as it would be with fans, but still it’s familiar to us and we tend to play well there. It’ll be nice to be home,” said Cassidy.
Injury report
Neither Matt Grzelcyk nor Jakub Zboril practiced and won’t play on Thursday. Their availability for Sunday’s outdoor game is also in doubt. John Moore practiced with Brandon Carlo and Connor Clifton skated with Kevan Miller.
Urho Vaakanainen skated with the team at Warrior on Wednesday.
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February 18, 2021 at 04:14AM
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Bruins Notebook: Cassidy revives heavy line - Boston Herald
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