The Bruins will not be getting any reinforcements on defense for Monday’s Game 5 against the Islanders, as Brandon Carlo (upper body) and Kevan Miller (upper body) both remain out. Both skated Monday after morning skate and coach Bruce Cassidy isn’t closing the door on one or both possibly returning for Game 6 Wednesday in New York.
That means the Bruins will once again go with a bottom four on the blue line of Mike Reilly, Jeremy Lauzon, Connor Clifton and Jarred Tinordi. While the pairings will be listed as Reilly-Lauzon and Tinordi-Clifton, there was a lot of fluidity in that group in Game 4 and probably will be again, as Reilly played just as much time with Clifton as Lauzon.
Cassidy will be making one change up front for Game 5, though, with Karson Kuhlman entering the lineup for Jake DeBrusk, who will be a healthy scratch. It’s a one-for-one swap, with Kuhlman expected to take DeBrusk’s usual spot on the third line next to Charlie Coyle and Nick Ritchie.
DeBrusk and Ritchie both seemed like candidates to sit, as both have had a quiet series -- Ritchie has no goals and one assist, while DeBrusk has yet to register a point through four games. The deciding factor appears to be a defensive breakdown on what proved to be the Islanders’ winning goal Saturday, when DeBrusk lost his defenseman for a second, allowing Scott Mayfield to get off a shot that wound up deflecting right to Mathew Barzal.
“As for the Coyle line, as I said yesterday, I don’t think it was their best game. That’s OK. It’s the goal against, I guess, that they need to be better on,” Cassidy said Monday. “You have to help us win. Not every line’s going to score every night. It’s the playoffs, it’s hard to score. But do what you can to help us win, whether that’s physicality, penalty kill, faceoffs, checking role, etc.
“All in all, Charlie scored a big goal for us at home here [in Game 2]. That certainly helped our cause the other day, so we do expect some offense from them. I thought Game 3, Coyle and Ritchie each had a couple good looks -- one off the forecheck, one off the rush. So they were trying to create. The other night they just didn’t get it going as well. To be honest, a lot of our team didn’t.”
Kuhlman played with Coyle and Ritchie in Game 2, when DeBrusk moved up to the second line to replace an injured Craig Smith, and assisted on Coyle’s goal. Cassidy explained what he expects to get from Kuhlman Monday night.
“What Kuhly typically brings is high energy, gets his feet moving,” Cassidy said. “I think the first game he was in, there was some apprehension about how much time and space he had. It’s gonna be a physical series, has been a physical series. So sometimes you need some shifts under your belt, and I thought as the game went on, he got better.
“Good play away from the puck. Again, help us win. Do what you do best, which is energy on the forecheck. He certainly can create some secondary offense, shoot the puck, can get in and disrupt some breakouts. He does it more with his foot speed and stick than physicality, but certainly capable of finishing some checks if they’re there.”
There have been some calls for the Bruins to change up their fourth line as well, but Cassidy said he is sticking with the Sean Kuraly-Curtis Lazar-Chris Wagner trio after what he considers their best game yet in Game 4.
“I think the Lazar line had their best game the other night in terms of getting some pucks back, playing in the O-zone a little more, being harder to play against,” Cassidy said. “They were challenged to be more physical and I think they were. They did a good job.”
While the fourth line has struggled to get out of its own zone at times, it’s worth noting that as a line they have only given up one goal against at five-on-five in the series and have actually out-chanced the Islanders (15-10 scoring chances, 9-3 high-danger chances, 1.36-0.73 expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick) despite getting by far the highest percentage of defensive-zone faceoffs of anyone on the team (24 D-zone draws, three offensive-zone faceoffs in the series).
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