Coach Jim Montgomery may eventually set the Boston Bruins’ four lines and defensive pairings, but for the near future, the lineup could remain in a state of flux.
Montgomery appeared to be close to solidifying things for a long stretch lately, but that was before a huge shakeup last week. Then, on Tuesday, in a 3-0 win over the Nashville Predators, Montgomery went back to the familiarity of what the four forward lines looked like prior to last week while continuing to switch the defensive pieces.
That lasted nearly a period before fourth-line wing Justin Brazeau left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return. From that point, Montgomery shuffled the forwards, mostly eschewing set lines, and he also did some more mixing up of his defensive pairings.
For Bruins fans looking for more consistent lineups, Montgomery’s flurry of changes last week, especially for Saturday’s 3-2 shootout win over the Capitals, likely caused a bit of a panic. It’s not a major worry, however, because the Bs (44-17-15, 103 points) are 3-1 in their last four games, atop the Atlantic Division, and tied for second with the Dallas Stars (47-19-9, 103) and behind the New York Rangers (50-21-4, 104) at the top of the NHL totem pole.
“Is this the right time to be experimenting?” asked Scott McLaughlin in WEEI radio’s Sunday Skate podcast. “Or should this be the time where you’re trying to really lock in your lineup — because there was a pretty long stretch before this where Montgomery had actually kept the lines together pretty consistently, which is rare enough for him … . And now, with (6) games left, we’re getting, he’s even called it, experimenting. He wants to see who has chemistry with who. … It’s not a bad idea, but I’m a little surprised this didn’t start five games ago.”
Andrew Raycroft, McLaughlin’s podcast partner and a former Bruins goalie, is not surprised with how Montgomery is doing things.
“Based off of last season, and based on Montgomery’s philosophy, five games, six games is too long ago,” Raycroft said. “You can’t sustain experimenting for a whole month. Guys get tired of it, guys get worn out.”
Raycroft believes that Montgomery’s recent lineup switches are all part of a plan that started with the coach yelling at the Bruins and skating them hard in a Monday, March 24, practice after a 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 22 that he wasn’t happy about.
“After that Philly game, he decided he was going to make playoff mode happen,” Raycroft said about the outburst. “He was going to let loose on them. They could have looked like the ’84 Oilers in practice, and they were going to get skated. (So now with the experimenting), it’s all part of his playoff mode — getting the team interested in who’s going to play and who’s not going to play. Get them focused on ‘this is a competition’ for the next three weeks and give them an opportunity to fight their way back into the lineup, both forwards and defense.”
Raycroft thinks Montgomery will likely experiment through April 9, right after Boston’s two games against Carolina (April 4 and 9) and one against Florida (April 6). After those three contests, there will be just three regular-season games remaining.
Shakeup on Defense
Let’s start with the defense over the last four games, where you can see it’s a drastically different setup each time. If it means anything for the future, only four of the eight D-men were in all four lineups — Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo and Andrew Peeke. That could mean a major change for Matt Grzelcyk, who was split apart from longtime D partner McAvoy against Washington and was not in the lineup at all against Nashville.
Pairings vs. Florida Panthers, March 26 (4-3 win)
- 1. Grzelcyk – McAvoy
- 2. Lindholm – Carlo
- 3. Parker Wotherspoon – Peeke
Pairings vs. Tampa Bay Lightning, March 27 (3-1 loss)
- 1. Grzelcyk – McAvoy
- 2. Wotherspoon – Carlo
- 3. Lindholm – Peeke
Pairings vs. Washington Capitals, March 30 (3-2 SO win)
- 1. Lindholm – McAvoy
- 2. Grzelcyk – Carlo
- 3. Kevin Shattenkirk – Peeke
Pairings vs. Nashville Predators, April 2 (3-0 win)
- 1. Lindholm – McAvoy
- 2. Mason Lohrei – Carlo
- 3. Shattenkirk – Peeke
Ongoing Restructuring on Offense
Montgomery had been going with a relatively steady four forward lines until the game against the Caps before making big changes:
Relatively steady lines before the Capitals game
- Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Jake DeBrusk
- Danton Heinen – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
- James van Riemsdyk or Jakub Lauko – Morgan Geekie – Trent Frederic
- Johnny Beecher – Jesper Boqvist – Justin Brazeau
Lines vs. Capitals
- Marchand – Zacha – Pastrnak
- Heinen – Coyle – Frederic
- DeBrusk – Geekie – Brazeau
- Beecher – Boqvist – Lauko
Lines vs. Predators (until Brazeau’s injury caused more shuffling)
- 1. Marchand – Coyle – DeBrusk
- 2. Heinen – Zacha – Pastrnak
- 3. van Reimsdyk – Geekie – Frederic
- 4. Beecher – Boqvist – Brazeau
Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak Together? Where Will Patrick Maroon Fit?
Against Washington, Montgomery used the team’s two top offensive weapons — Pastrnak (45 goals, 57 assists, 102 points) and Marchand (27-36-63) — on the same lines. But the two together have been a rarity, and keeping them apart has kept the lines more balanced and less top-heavy all season so far. So it’s doubtful the coach will continue to use that tack often.
Maybe the forward lines to start the game against Nashville (which signified a return to the previous normalcy) are approximately what Montgomery is thinking long-term.
In a few weeks, there will be another player to choose from when picking the forward lines, making the coach’s decisions even tougher. On Monday morning, winger Patrick Maroon, acquired from the Minnesota Wild at the trade deadline, practiced with the Bruins for the first time. He is still working his way back from injury, and a mid-April return is the best-case scenario, according to the coach.
Related: Pat Maroon’s Bruins’ Debut on the Horizon
When Maroon returns, though, where will he slot in? When he gets in the lineup and is not used as an emergency backup/healthy scratch, his physical style is a good fit somewhere in the bottom six. Where players end up could be further clouded if Brazeau misses an extended period of time. Lauko is next in line to step in.
Check Back in a Week to See Where the Bruins’ Lineup Is At
One good thing about all the changes is the players get a chance to skate with many different teammates, and thus, they are more likely to form a tighter bond with everyone. That kind of thing can be invaluable come playoff time.
Eventually, Montgomery is likely to bring the Bruins to a point where they pretty much all know and can depend on exactly who they are playing with game in and game out. And if you believe in Raycroft’s timeline for this, take a good look at the lineup in about a week, and you may see what it’s going to look like come playoff time.
