It was a Saturday matinee at TD Garden as the Bruins and Sabres squared off for the eighth and final time this season.
Winners of six of their prior meetings, the Bruins once again took advantage of playing the worst team in the league and dominated them from start to finish, earning another valuable two points in the standings and gaining further themselves from the Rangers.
Jeremy Swayman made 17 saves, collecting his sixth win between the pipes in eight starts, and 12 skaters recorded points, including multi-point performances from David Krejci and Nick Ritchie and a hat trick from Craig Smith as Boston ousted Buffalo 6-2.
Here are three key takeaways from the game.
1. Second line is buzzing
David Krejci, Taylor Hall and Craig Smith are clicking on all cylinders and have changed the dynamic of the Bruins’ offense since being put together following the trade deadline.
Since being surrounded by two true top-six wingers, Krejci has elevated his offensive game while maintaining defensive reliability. Meanwhile Hall and Smith continue to build confidence and chemistry in their first season in Boston.
The recently united trio continued their dominance right away during Saturday’s game against the Sabres, giving their team a 1-0 lead just 1:21 into the first period. After regrouping in the neutral zone with Kevan Miller, Hall entered the offensive with possession as he often does and with great patience dropped a pass back to a trailing Krejci. With time and space, Krejci’s elite playmaking ability went on full display as he zipped a back-door pass to Smith, who buried his 11th goal of the season.
Smith added another goal early in the third period, netting a one-timer from the top of the crease after a beautiful pass from Mike Reilly behind the net -- Krejci also assisted on Smith’s second goal of the game and 12th of the season. Why stop there? Smith wanted the hat trick and Krejci made sure he got it, setting up Smith for a tip-in goal on the power play late in the third period.
Just how dominant has the second line been? Well, in 11 games together since the trade deadline, the trio has combined for 33 points. Having such an offensively dangerous second line in addition to the top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, the Bruins now possess one of the premier top-six forward groups in the league. Now, if the Bruins’ bottom-six can continue to gain confidence after scoring in the last few games, the team’s ceiling should be pretty high in the playoffs.
2. New bottom-six lines show potential
As elite as the Bruins’ top six appears to be, the never-ending puzzle that is the bottom six remains in question with the postseason only weeks away.
Difficult offensive seasons for Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner have been well documented for quite some time. However, over the last few games, some have found the score sheet and seem to be playing with the confidence that oftentimes coincides with scoring.
Coyle’s game-winning goal on Thursday night was his first score in 29 games, and Kuraly’s tally on Saturday afternoon was his first goal in 31 games.
Coyle and Kuraly ending individual goal slumps stems from Bruce Cassidy’s recent changes to the third line. Coyle being moved to right wing has alleviated him from some defensive assignments and allowed him to focus more on his offensive.
Centering Coyle and Nick Ritchie has surrounded Kuraly with a bit more size and skill on his wings and improves his ability to create and capitalize on scoring chances -- much like his goal on Saturday, putting home a rebound from a Ritchie shot in the slot. Speaking of Ritchie, he too scored in the winning effort, tipping home a Matt Grzelcyk slap shot for his 13th goal of the season
The newly-united trio has three goals in their last two games and seem to be finding chemistry. Now, do the Bruins ultimately want Coyle as third-line center and Kuraly in more of a fourth-line shutdown role? Maybe, but it would be wise to stick with what’s working until it no longer is.
Meanwhile, on the “fourth line”, Cassidy debuted the combination of Curtis Lazar centering Jake DeBrusk and Karson Kuhlman. In their inaugural game together, they seemed to compliment each other well, considering all three forwards possess speed and tenacity when they’re on their game.
DeBrusk played with a bit more effort and determination following two games as a healthy scratch, but it was Kuhlman who tried making the most of his opportunity in the lineup as he rifled a team-leading six shots on goal while taking pucks hard to the net. Lazar was steady in the middle and all of a sudden the Bruins have a potential fourth-line combination that no one really saw coming.
3. Top unit still struggling on the power play
As well as the Bruins are playing at even strength, an aspect of their game they’d like to rectify heading into the playoffs is their power play.
The man-advantage has been slumping for well over a month and there are two likely reasons for it.
First off, while the Bruins have enough talent for two efficient power-play units, it seems that some of the personnel is being allocated to the wrong unit. Inserting Hall and Charlie McAvoy onto the top unit with Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak would certainly improve their zone entries -- which is presently one of the power plays biggest issues.
The second issue is that the top unit -- more so than the second unit -- is overthinking a bit once set up in the umbrella. A shot mentality early and often will get penalty-killers out of position and naturally open up the passing lanes they are currently forcing.
Now, they have been getting solid looks of late but the results need to follow. One hesitation of putting Hall and McAvoy on the first unit is that the second unit is actually performing well and creating more chances than the top unit. In fact, Smith’s hat-trick goal was on the man-advantage.
If the plan is to roughly give each unit even time on the power play, then maybe the best bet is to just hope the first unit breaks out of their slump. But if the best players are to be on the top unit, then Hall and McAvoy should get serious consideration to allow their strengths and elite skill-sets to help the first-unit. Pairing Grzelcyk and Reilly on the second unit should still allow them to be dangerous while also defensively reliable when a power play expires.