There wasn’t a whole lot to be taken away from the Bruins’ regular-season finale in Toronto Friday night. It was a fairly meaningless game, with both teams resting some of their top players ahead of the playoffs.
There was one takeaway that was certainly notable, though: Chris Wagner wanted back in. The 30-year-old veteran, who had spent the entire season with AHL Providence up to that point, looked like he was shot out of a cannon.
In a game where more than a couple guys looked like they were just cruising to the finish line, Wagner was flying around the ice and hitting everything that moved. He finished with an eye-popping 11 hits -- five more than anyone else in the game -- in 15:57 of ice time. He caused havoc on the forecheck and around the Toronto net throughout the game, helping to create a few scoring chances along the way.
Going into the game, Wagner being one of the four call-ups from Providence was a nice story. Coming out of it, it was suddenly fair to wonder if Wagner had done enough to earn a spot on the Bruins’ playoff roster.
Sure enough, when the Bruins finalized their roster for Monday’s Game 1, Wagner was on it. The other three call-ups -- Jack Studnicka, Oskar Steen and Jack Ahcan -- were sent back to Providence. Marc McLaughlin, who had been with the big club since signing out of Boston College in March, joined them.
“I thought he played very well,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said of Wagner Friday night. “Played to his strengths. Finished every check. Was around the front of the net, had a few looks around the front of the net. He played some PK minutes. … I liked his game a lot.
“We kept Marc around for a while here as a young guy and gave him some looks. He responded early on. So a little bit of that was evaluating where he was in his pro career. It’s a big ask to go into the playoffs, but he was here to get some experience. Wags we know has played in those situations before. … I certainly think he was one of our better players tonight in terms of just playing a complete 200-foot game.”
Of course, the Bruins didn’t choose to keep Wagner around just because of one game. They know that he’s worked hard and done what’s been asked of him in Providence all season, even though he obviously wasn’t happy about being demoted following four years as an NHL regular.
They also know that Wagner’s physicality could come in handy at some point this postseason, possibly in this first-round series against Carolina. And to Cassidy’s point, he has 56 games of Stanley Cup Playoffs experience to his name. Wagner is expected to be a healthy scratch for Game 1, with him and Anton Blidh serving as the extra forwards, but injury or ineffectiveness could open the door for him to get a game on the fourth line.
“I’ve had a lot of talks with Chris,” general manager Don Sweeney said on Sunday. “I consider us to have really good open lines of communication. He can ask me really anything, and he knows I won’t go sideways with any of our conversations. He was patient about things, not happy about things, but a really good soldier and leader, which was important for our organization.
“He just kept asking me, if he’s playing well and his game’s at the top of it, is he a part of moving forward? And I’ve always told him that, ultimately, the coach decides the lineup, but if you’re playing your best, he’s gonna put in the players that are gonna help him win, especially as the intensity ramps up and Chris can provide what he does. He did that in the very last game of the year and earned his right to be a part of this group going forward. He’s happy about it, we’re happy about it, and the players that he’s played with are happy about it.”
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