If you were going to make a list of forwards the Boston Bruins needed more from amid their slow start to the season, the top five entering Thursday night may very well have looked like this: David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Elias Lindholm, Pavel Zacha, Charlie Coyle.
Those were the five forwards who were locked into the top two lines going into the season. They were the guys this team was relying on to lead the way while others found their way. Instead, that group has also struggled to find its way, a major factor in the Bruins’ lack of offensive production and a major reason why coach Jim Montgomery has felt the need to change up his lines every couple days.
Thursday night was only one game, and a 4-3 overtime win against the struggling Calgary Flames – a game that included a blown 3-1 third-period lead – is nothing to get too excited about. But man was it the kind of night those top forwards needed, because they were the ones who led the way.
Marchand scored the overtime winner and was arguably the Bruins’ best player all night, despite a bad penalty early in the third period that led to a Flames goal. He led all players with 12 shot attempts and eight shots on goal. He hit two posts, drew a penalty, and generally just made things happen all night.
“I thought he was desperate the entire game,” Montgomery said of Marchand. “He hit a couple of posts. I thought that he was on top of his game. I thought he was skating well. His ability to recover and just keep going, his second and third effort, it needs to become contagious on our team, because he’s a great leader.”
Lindholm set up that winning goal, stealing the puck from Rasmus Andersson behind the net before feeding Marchand in front. He was the best player on the ice in overtime, as he also forced two other turnovers that set up scoring chances and broke up a Calgary 2-on-1 with a great backcheck. In regulation, Lindholm had two great chances himself and also sprung Pastrnak on a breakaway, but all three were denied by Flames goalie Dustin Wolf.
Marchand and Lindholm formed a line with right wing Justin Brazeau, and the three showed some promising chemistry. During the 9:01 that they were on the ice at 5-on-5, the Bruins out-attempted the Flames 14-5 and had a 7-2 advantage in scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“Yeah, I do,” Marchand said when asked if he feels like he and Lindholm are finding some good chemistry. “He’s a very, very smart player. He reads the ice well, makes a lot of really good plays. I definitely think that we’re starting to understand where each other goes. Always room for improvement. The more practice time you get and the reps you get together, the more we’ll build it.”
The Bruins’ other top-six line was arguably even better Thursday, and two-thirds of it may have needed a big night even more. Zacha, Pastrnak and Tyler Johnson were on the ice for the Bruins’ first two goals and were buzzing around the offensive zone all night, something that hasn’t been true of any iteration of the first line for much of the season.
Zacha ended his prolonged offensive drought with a goal and an assist – his first points in six games, and his first goal since opening night. Pastrnak picked up the primary assist on both goals, setting up Hampus Lindholm for the first and Zacha for the second to snap out of a recent funk that was lowlighted by Sunday’s third-period benching. Johnson, after a fairly quiet, uninvolved first game as a Bruin, saw a lot more action and got to make some plays Thursday while playing 15:45.
“They played really well,” Montgomery said of the Johnson-Zacha-Pastrnak combination. “I thought that line was our best offensive line.”
Coyle’s third line, with Cole Koepke and Matt Poitras on his wings, wasn’t as dominant as the top two lines overall, but they did score Boston’s third goal. Just 31 seconds after Zacha made it 2-1, Coyle made a strong drive down the right wing before firing a perfect centering pass to Koepke right in front for a tap-in goal, and Coyle's first assist all season. Coyle also set up Marchand for one of his two shots off the post, and nearly sprung Poitras on a breakaway in overtime.
This may not have been the perfect get-right game for the Bruins as a whole. There’s still a lot they need to clean up, from a couple more bad penalties to a still-sluggish power play to a rough third period. But they did get some of their most important forwards going, and that is something that will need to continue.