With two and a half minutes left in the third period and the Bruins hanging onto a one-goal lead Tuesday night, the Bruins' second line jumped over the boards to try to do their part to protect the lead.
The biggest name usually on the second line remained on the bench, though. Taylor Hall did not hit the ice with Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith for the key shift, with Jake DeBrusk replacing him on the left wing instead.
In fact, Hall only played a total of 38 seconds in the final eight minutes of the game. Part of that was because he took a hooking penalty in the offensive zone with 8:18 to go. That alone may have been enough to earn a benching, but coach Bruce Cassidy said he didn't like the way Hall was playing even outside of that, pointing to a turnover Hall committed on his next shift after the penalty.
"Turnovers at the blue line when you have the lead in the third," Cassidy said. "We're all trying to buy in to play behind their D unless you have a free pass to get through there. So, it's just winning hockey. You want to play late in games, you have to play winning hockey. It doesn't matter who you are on the team. He got away from that."
Before anyone freaks out too much or thinks things are suddenly going south with Hall, it's worth pointing that this is more of a one-game thing and not necessarily indicative of some larger problem -- at least for now.
Hall has been good this season. His seven points are tied for fourth on the team, behind only the three members of the top line. He has four points in the last four games, including an assist on Derek Forbort's goal earlier Tuesday night. Evolving-Hockey's goals above replacement metric has him tied with Patrice Bergeron for second on the team behind only Charlie McAvoy.
But for at least one period, Hall wasn't playing the way Cassidy demands. And on the flip side, and in more encouraging news, Jake DeBrusk was. DeBrusk earning some trust from the coach who benched him multiple times last season shouldn't be lost in all of this.
It's also worth pointing out that Hall wasn't the only Bruins forward whose play Cassidy wasn't thrilled with Tuesday. Jack Studnicka also took an offensive-zone penalty in the third and didn't exactly make the most of his opportunity at third-line right wing.
"Studs I think was light on the puck at times," Cassidy said. "The effort's always there with him. It's just, to play in this league… got stripped once early on. Understand the pace. Some of that is getting to know the league. Just be heavy on pucks, especially on the wall."
