Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery has been mixing and matching on his second and third lines throughout the early going this season, but two parts of his lineup had remained pretty consistently intact: David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm together on the first line; and Johnny Beecher, Mark Kastelic and Cole Koepke together on a fourth line that has been the team’s best trio.
Now, after a new offensive low in Tuesday’s 2-0 shutout loss to the previously porous Philadelphia Flyers, Montgomery is throwing everything into the blender, including his first and fourth lines. When the Bruins hit the ice for Wednesday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena shortly before flying to Carolina, the line combinations looked like they may as well have been names drawn out of a hat.
Pastrnak was on a line with Beecher and Pavel Zacha. Lindholm had been dropped in between Kastelic and Brad Marchand. Matt Poitras was centering Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau, the only combination that has previously played together – and with at least some modicum of success recently. Charlie Coyle slid all the way down to what appears to be the new fourth line, flanked by Koepke and Max Jones. Morgan Geekie skated as an extra forward, suggesting he’s in line to be a healthy scratch Thursday, as did the still-unsigned Tyler Johnson.
The two biggest things to focus on here are Pastrnak and Lindholm getting split up, and the three members of what was the fourth line all being dropped onto different lines.
Pastrnak-Lindholm was a combination the Bruins were excited about entering the season, but it simply has not clicked yet. In the 96 minutes that the two of them have been on the ice together at 5-on-5, the Bruins have broken even on goals (2-2), but have been doubled up in high-danger chances (24-12) and have an expected goals share of just 44.3%. After recording five points in the first three games of the season, Lindholm has now gone seven games without a point. Pastrnak has two even-strength points in those seven games.
“It should work,” Montgomery lamented when asked about the Pastrnak-Lindholm combination. “Two smart hockey players that see the ice really well. Players that can shoot, pass. Two players that can skate. Just hasn’t materialized, so we’re changing it up.”
Montgomery then made it clear that splitting up Beecher, Kastelic and Koepke has nothing to do with any of them doing anything wrong, but rather what they’re doing right. Montgomery is hoping that sprinkling those three throughout the lineup will force other guys to play the way that trio has been playing.
“Our fourth line has been our best line, if you want to call it a fourth line,” Montgomery said. “And the message to those three – and that was the most important message – was you guys are being split up to help the other guys be better, not for you to become quote-unquote skill players. I don't want their games to change. I want them to play north. I want their work habits to rub off on other people, so we create more turnovers, create more opportunities.”
In addition to Lindholm, the Bruins just have too many core players who aren’t producing right now, as laid out in the tweet below from my Skate Pod co-host, Brian DeFelice. Maybe the most shocking number there is Coyle, who remains stuck on just one point for the season through 10 games. Coyle is also a team-worst minus-8. It’s a complete 180 from the player who put up a career-high 60 points last season.
Regardless of where he is in the lineup – and he was with Koepke and Jones on what looked like the fourth line Wednesday – Coyle knows he needs to play better and start producing.
“I need to get my feet moving more,” Coyle said Wednesday. “I think having speed through the middle, that's one big component, and just have to get to those areas. I think my game is hanging onto the puck down low, in the corners, behind the net, making plays, taking it to the net. And I haven't done nearly enough of that. So, usually you do that, you get opportunities.”
Montgomery’s lineup shuffle smells of desperation, but the Bruins are in fact desperate for offense, and nothing else Montgomery has tried has really worked. We’ll see if this does Thursday night when the Bruins face a very good defensive team in the Hurricanes.