There was a time this season when Sean Kuraly wasn’t even a lock to keep his spot on the Bruins' fourth line. Now he might be locking himself in as the team’s third-line center for the start of the playoffs.
Kuraly was a healthy scratch for a pair of games back in early March, as he and the fourth line just hadn’t been playing with the energy and sandpaper that had been their hallmarks in the past. A week after re-entering the lineup, he found himself sidelined for two more weeks after testing positive for COVID-19.
Kuraly brought more energy upon his return, but still wasn’t creating much in the way of offense. The trade deadline acquisitions of Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar created even more competition among the Bruins’ forwards, with Lazar in particular bumping Kuraly over to left wing on the fourth line.
While that could have been viewed as a demotion by some, Kuraly wound up using it as a springboard for a promotion. With Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk both struggling to get going on a new-look third line, coach Bruce Cassidy decided to shake things up by moving Coyle over to right wing, DeBrusk down to fourth line/healthy scratch territory, and Kuraly up to third-line center.
With Nick Ritchie on the left, Cassidy may have finally found his third line. In 45 minutes together at five-on-five, the Ritchie-Kuraly-Coyle trio has outscored opponents 4-1 with a 64.6% share of shots on goal and 61.0% share of expected goals, per Evolving-Hockey.
Kuraly snapped a 30-game goalless drought on Saturday, assisted on a Ritchie goal on Monday, and then scored again on Tuesday.
Appearing on The Greg Hill Show Thursday morning, Kuraly said he doesn’t think he’s doing anything too different, but that he just feels better about his play and maybe a little more amped up now that he can see the playoffs right around the corner. (You can listen to the full interview beginning at the 20:00 mark in the clip below.)
“Sometimes you find it and the game’s agreeing with you and you’re feeling the game, and sometimes you’re just trying to figure it out,” Kuraly said. “I think for whatever reason, thankfully it’s kind of feeling a little better for me now. Playoffs kind of get me excited, end of the year and getting into playoffs. I think maybe the light at the end of the tunnel, you feel like this is starting to get fun.”
Kuraly and Ritchie will have another adjustment to make Thursday night, as Coyle will miss the game with an upper-body injury suffered Tuesday when he got hit by a shot from teammate Brandon Carlo. Coach Bruce Cassidy said Coyle is considered day-to-day. Jake DeBrusk will be moving up from the fourth line to replace him Thursday night.
If anything, it further highlights how important Kuraly’s resurgence is. Not too long ago, the Bruins would have been in trouble if any of their regular centers went down. Now, Kuraly is playing well enough to not just move up to the third line if someone's out, but perhaps to stick their long-term as the playoffs approach.
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