The Bruins lead the NHL in total offense and rank fifth in 5-on-5 offense. So why did coach Jim Montgomery feel the need to shake things up and reunite the “Perfection Line” this weekend?
Because he didn’t like the way things were trending, and understandably so. While the Bruins keep winning games -- they’re now 14-2-0 after Sunday’s 5-2 win over the Canucks -- the 5-on-5 offense was heading in the wrong direction.
The Bruins had scored 3.49 5-on-5 goals per 60 minutes in nine games in the month of October (good for third in the NHL), but they had dipped to 2.59 through the first six games of November (15th in the NHL during that span).
Believe it or not, the first line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk had not scored a single 5-on-5 goal with all three of them on the ice in the seven games since Marchand returned to the lineup. The second line of Taylor Hall, David Krejci and David Pastrnak had not taken off the way many had expected and was merely breaking even with three goals scored and three allowed during their 72 5-on-5 minutes this season.
“We haven’t been generating enough 5-on-5,” Montgomery said before Sunday’s game. “I put them [the Perfection Line] together a little bit and they’ve generated 5-on-5 goals for us. We need more production 5-on-5 in general. I mean, the [Tomas] Nosek-[Nick] Foligno line has been our most productive 5-on-5 line our last six games.”
In case you’re wondering, yes, that last line was accurate. And the second-most productive 5-on-5 line during that stretch on a per-60-minutes basis was the third line of Trent Frederic, Charlie Coyle and either Pavel Zacha or Craig Smith.
Saturday night’s sluggish start in Buffalo was something of a breaking point for Montgomery. None of his lines were generating anything that resembled offense in the first period. So, to start the second, he moved Pastrnak up to his old spot alongside Bergeron and Marchand and dropped DeBrusk to the second line with Krejci and Hall.
It worked. Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak, who had gotten a few stray shifts together this season but nothing prolonged, clicked like they had never been separated and began creating scoring chances seemingly every shift.
They finally cashed in in the third period with a goal that showcased both their skill and chemistry. Bergeron flipped the puck up to Pastrnak, who pulled it down with a deft stick and then made a nearly blind backhand pass to Marchand, who then made a backhand pass of his own over to Bergeron for the finish.
“They’re just dominant at both ends of the ice,” Montgomery said of the trio. “You get three players like that together, like that play [Saturday] night, that was a pretty special play.”
On Sunday, they started a game together for the first time this season. They didn’t score at 5-on-5 play against Vancouver, but they were dominant once again. When they were on the ice, the Bruins out-attempted the Canucks 9-2, outshot them 5-1 and had 82.1% of expected goals. In 28 minutes together on the season, those numbers are now 37-12, 19-8 and 83.4%.
In the first period, the trio broke out one of their patented set faceoff plays, with Bergeron winning the draw, Marchand grabbing the puck and looping one way through the circle while Pastrnak went the other, and Marchand then setting up Pastrnak in the slot. Pastrnak got tripped and the Bruins went to the power play.
In the third, they combined with Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy for an impressive offensive-zone shift that saw them cycle the puck for a good 30 seconds or so, with Pastrnak in particular literally skating circles around the Canucks and zooming around the offensive zone like it was race day at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Bergeron and Marchand also both scored on the power play Sunday, with Pastrnak setting up both.
The new-look second line wasn’t as dominant, but they did create some 5-on-5 offense on a good offensive-zone shift in the first period that ended with Hall setting up Connor Clifton for the game’s opening goal.
If Montgomery does stick with the Perfection Line for a while, the Bruins shouldn’t have the same problem that they’ve had in the past. For years, the argument for moving Pastrnak down to Krejci’s line was that Krejci didn’t have legitimate second-line wingers flanking him.
Well, Hall is definitely still a legitimate second-line winger even if he’s no longer an MVP candidate. So is this version of DeBrusk, who has been playing the best hockey of his career since the second half of last season. Hall-Krejci-DeBrusk should still be a legitimate second line that can put up some points. If anything, Krejci, who has just four even-strength points in 13 games, is the one who needs to step up his game, regardless of who his wings are.
Montgomery has shown that he won’t hesitate to juggle his lines when things aren’t working. As his top two lines strung together one quiet night after another, it was only a matter of time before he played the Perfection Line card. That time was this weekend.
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