The Bruins suffered their first home loss of the season Thursday night and have now lost two in a row in regulation for the first time this season. But the most concerning news of the night was that David Krejci left the game after the first period and didn’t return due to a lower-body injury.
Coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t have any further update on Krejci after the game, and with the Bruins off Friday as they travel to Lake Tahoe for Sunday’s outdoor game against the Flyers, we may not get another update until Saturday. (Update: Krejci is not expected to travel for Sunday's game, according to Joe McDonald.)
The Bruins were already struggling to find five-on-five offense, especially after the first line, and losing Krejci for any amount of time would only compound that problem. So, what are the Bruins’ options if they have to play without Krejci on Sunday and possibly beyond?
The first thing that would almost certainly happen is that David Pastrnak would go back to his usual spot on the top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Pastrnak had been moved to Krejci’s line this week in an effort to get a second line going, but he hasn’t played much with any center other than Bergeron or Krejci. And without Krejci, Cassidy would probably want to make sure he at least has one sure thing going with his top trio.
After that, you know you have Charlie Coyle and Sean Kuraly as two of your next three centers. Cassidy mentioned three options on Thursday night to fill the remaining spot in the middle: moving Trent Frederic from wing to center (which he’s played in the past), putting in Greg McKegg (who is currently with the team on the taxi squad), or calling up Jack Studnicka (a natural center who has mostly played wing in the NHL so far) from AHL Providence.
If Frederic moves over, that could mean Karson Kuhlman (also currently on the taxi squad) draws into the lineup on the wing, or Studnicka still gets called up and plays wing.
Of all those options, though, calling up Studnicka and playing him at center would seemingly be the best. It’s certainly the one that offers the most offensive upside, which should be a key consideration in replacing a playmaker like Krejci, especially given the aforementioned five-on-five struggles.
That path would also allow Cassidy to keep his current third and fourth lines together if he wants. While no bottom-three line has been able to score consistently, generally Coyle’s line has looked best when he’s been with Frederic and Craig Smith, and Kuraly’s line has looked best with Anders Bjork and Chris Wagner.
Studnicka could then slot in between Nick Ritchie and Jake DeBrusk -- two players he has spent time with separately, but not together. Studnicka played with DeBrusk and Krejci at times during the summer restart when he was in the lineup, and most of his time in Boston earlier this season was spent with Ritchie and Krejci.
That trio probably wouldn’t operate as a true “second” line like it does when Krejci’s there, but instead you’d probably see ice time spread fairly evenly across the bottom three lines, with Coyle probably coming the closest to second-line ice time.
Or Cassidy could blow it all up and try completely new combinations, which might be as good an option as any.
Regardless, two players who would really need to pick up the slack are DeBrusk and Coyle. DeBrusk finally scored his first goal of the season on Thursday, but needs to make sure he rolls that forward into more consistent scoring.
Coyle has just two goals and two assists in 15 games this season and needs to start producing more offensively regardless of whether or not Krejci misses time, but especially if Krejci is out and he becomes the Bruins’ de facto No. 2 center.
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