It looks like Bruce Cassidy is splitting up the Bruins' dominant top line, at least for the time being.
When the Bruins hit the ice for practice Monday after an off day Sunday, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak were not together.
Marchand and Bergeron still were, but it was Jake DeBrusk on their right. Pastrnak, meanwhile, was with David Krejci and Nick Ritchie on the second line.
Why? Because the Bruins need to have more than one line going offensively.
Clearly, this isn't being done because of any struggles from Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak. They've been dominant since Pastrnak's return, outscoring opponents 7-3 at five-on-five and registering 60.4% of shot attempts when they're on the ice. On Saturday, they scored the Bruins' only two goals in a 4-2 loss to the Islanders.
The problem is that no other line has been scoring with any sort of consistency. Forwards not named Marchand, Bergeron or Pastrnak have combined for just 11 even-strength goals in 14 games this season.
David Krejci's line had looked better recently with Ritchie and Craig Smith on his wings, but the catch there is that the third line with Charlie Coyle at center has also been much better with Smith on it than off it. Obviously, Smith cannot be on both lines at once.
The concerning X-factor here is that Jake DeBrusk has struggled with both Krejci and Coyle this season. He has no goals and just two assists in nine games this year.
There was, however, one stretch this season where it looked like he was on the verge of turning the corner -- when he was playing with Marchand and Bergeron, just before DeBrusk got hurt and just before Pastrnak came back.
That was what prompted us at the time to suggest it just might be a good idea to leave DeBrusk there for a little bit longer in hopes of really getting him going.
It didn't happen then. Cassidy understandably wanted to reunite what has arguably been the best line in hockey for the last several years. Hard to criticize that.
But with DeBrusk still struggling to get off the ground and the Bruins still struggling to find consistent secondary scoring, it looks Cassidy is going to give the switch a shot now.
What's the best way to get DeBrusk going? Put him with elite players like Marchand and Bergeron.
What's the best way to get a second line going offensively? Put the guy who led the NHL in goals last year on it.
Cassidy and the Bruins will absolutely want to go back to Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak at some point -- when you have something that good, you don't want to stay away from it for too long.
But in the short term, this could be an effective way to spread some power around and jumpstart a couple other cars on the lot.
"It's a little bit of a few guys offensively, haven't had much luck -- Krech, Jake," Cassidy said. "Jake being back with Bergy and March, I thought he played OK up there. He got injured, I think it was against Philly, but I thought he was doing a good job. They tend to push whoever's with them, so could be a good arrangement.
"And then Krech has played before with Pasta, so it's just a little bit of a different look. We've talked about doing it in the past. I don't know, we'll see how it goes. … Maybe this gets both lines scoring, I guess, consistently. We'll see where it goes from there."
*********************
Elsewhere in Bruins lineup news, defensemen Matt Grzelcyk, Jakub Zboril and Kevan Miller were all missing from Monday's practice. Cassidy said Miller was just getting a maintenance day and should be back Tuesday.
Grzelcyk (lower body) and Zboril (upper body) are not expected to be back Tuesday, though. Grzelcyk underwent an MRI on Sunday. Cassidy said it would be tough for either to play Thursday night if they aren't back by Wednesday.
If that's the case and both are out Thursday, John Moore would remain in the lineup after making his season debut Saturday and Connor Clifton would go back in as well. The Bruins also have Steven Kampfer skating with the team to give them seven once Miller returns, so they don't need to make any call-ups yet.
Up front, Cassidy said that Ondrej Kase, who has been out since the second game of the season, has started to do some light skating on his own. He's not yet ready to join the team in practice, though.
