Still without his borderline unmatched defensive pairing of Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy, but with first place still very much on the line Thursday, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy took the gamble of all gambles and made Torey Krug his No. 1 defenseman.
Krug's recent ice-time has been that of a top-pairing guy, sure, with a team-high 23:55 of time on ice per night since Chara exited the lineup two weeks ago. But it hasn't necessarily come with the challenge of going up against another team's top line for the majority of even-strength action. Especially not against the likes of a Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, a combo that you can honestly put up there as perhaps the league's best one-two option.
It was something that Krug's partner, last year's No. 2 defender Brandon Carlo, had previously handled. But that was with the 6-foot-9 Chara, not the go-go Krug, to his left.
"We put a little faith in Torey, in that regard," Cassidy admitted after the 4-2 win that bumped the Bolts out of first place for the first time since mid-October. "Someone has to play against that group if Zee is out. I think it's a good challenge you put out there for these guys, and I think he handled it well. And playing with Bergeron's line always helps because you've got the Selke guy out there, so it's going to help Torey and Carlo."
Let's be honest: This could have been considered a suicide mission given how important the Lightning viewed this game; thoroughly embarrassed in their own building the last time these two teams met, the Lightning arrived to Boston with an extra day of rest and obviously the healthier of the two Atlantic powerhouses. Barring the Lightning going 13 minutes without a shot on goal -- which is exactly what happened, just as we all predicted, I'm sure -- this prayer of a top pairing could and would have been something that the Black and Gold abandoned after a disastrous period and 0-2 hole.
But Cassidy instead entrusted Krug and Carlo throughout the night, with over nine of Krug's near 17 minutes of five-on-five play coming against Stamkos, and with the Bruins outshooting Tampa 7-2 in that sample. And most importantly, it was the Krug-Carlo pairing that ultimately rewarded that trust with what was a beautiful third-period sequence that helped the Bruins score the game-winning goal at 4-on-4.
Immediately following a fantastic Tuukka Rask stop on Kucherov, Brandon Carlo (yes, the same Brandon Carlo that entered play with one point in his last 34 games) led a breakout deep into the Tampa Bay zone while the Bruins got fresh bodies on ice.
Keeping possession for the three-headed cycle monster of Krug, Patrice Bergeron, and Brad Marchand, some incredible movement ended with Krug putting a backhanded pass between Yanni Gourde and Mikhail Sergachev for a Bergeron strike.
It's the kind of play Carlo won't get proper credit for. I mean, he didn't even get a plus on the goal, as he departed for Kevan Miller by the time Bergeron put the puck home. But it's the kind of play that speaks to what the painfully hot-and-cold Carlo, whose stock has been back on the rise in Chara's absence, with countless steady defensive plays and an increasingly hard-nosed approach when pushed, can do when confident.
"He's trying to play a harder brand of hockey, and he was tonight," Cassidy said of Carlo. "For me, it's bring the aggression that's required to play a matchup game, and then move your feet when you have the puck. That's what we're trying to preach to Brandon every night. Like a lot of young guys, some nights you get it, some nights you don't, but we have a lot of faith and trust in him, and we're going to keep asking for it."
Even without a point to show for his efforts, there was no doubt that this was Carlo's most offensively active game of the season, and those efforts did not take anything away from No. 47's night, as he finished with two helpers and a plus-3 rating. And this felt like one of the first games in which this pairing simply played. Neither seemed to worry about overcompensating for the other's weakness -- Krug never tried to go end-to-end because of Carlo's breakout struggles and Carlo wasn't a statue hanging 100 feet back of play to make up for Krug's risk-taking -- and their flow as a unit undoubtedly seemed to benefit a Bergeron line that can clearly do whatever the hell they want when together.
"Big team, big game for us and obviously they are pretty deep up front so any matchup you get is going to be a tough one," Krug said of the challenge. "And definitely exciting for myself and [Brandon] Carlo to get that one tonight and just enjoy it."
Do the Bruins want to overexpose this pairing to the Stamkos line in a seven-game series? Of course not. But these are the kind of games that build confidence and trust, not only from the coaching staff, but from the players as well. And for a B's team that's smashed expectations in the absence of both Chara and McAvoy -- keep in mind that Cassidy deployed the Matt Grzelcyk-Kevan Miller pairing as his top pairing during the B's recent four-game road swing -- these performances go a long way in regards to answering the question of just who makes up the B's defensive rotation come Game 1.
And who they can gamble on if drawn into situations previously thought to be completely unfavorable.
"We're missing some guys who play some key minutes, but you know everyone has [stepped up] this year, everyone has been asked to do a little bit more sometimes and everyone has stepped up to the plate and done their job," Krug, now the league's seventh-highest scoring defenseman this season with 57 points through 70 games, remarked. "And obviously you want to be that guy that takes on more responsibility and be a bigger part of the team and it's fun when you do get that."
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