After beginning the season with two home victories, the Boston Bruins are preparing for a west coast road journey. Before facing the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, the Bruins will have had four nights off. They will then play consecutive games against the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Jim Montgomery, head coach of the Boston Bruins, viewed the early-season road tour as a positive development. “Not because I’m an optimistic person, but because it’s still early in the year. These men must get to know one another. They are permitted to have dinner together and to meander around Los Angeles on their day off, wherever they choose.
“Being on the road is more of a bonding experience, and you also learn more about yourself as a hockey player and as a team.”
After using the same line combinations for the first week, Montgomery hopes to learn more about his team by rearranging the first three forward lines on Monday:
David Pastrnak – Pavel Zacha – Jake DeBrusk
Morgan Geekie – Matt Poitras – Brad Marchand
William van Riemsdyk – Trent Frederic – Charlie Coyle
Jakub Lauko – Johnny Beecher – Milan Lucic
Patrick Brown and Danton
Patrick Brown rotated in on the fourth line on Monday, and Danton Heinen also practiced while awaiting a contract offer from the Bruins. Heinen trained with the Bruins during the preseason under a Professional Tryout Agreement (PTO), which he will remain on until he signs or the Bruins release him.
As the team travels west, Montgomery stated that he wanted to mix up the line combinations and find a spark. This comes after he previously stated he would not alter the lines as much this season due to the influx of new players.
“I haven’t seen a lot of offensive 5-on-5 generation,” Montgomery said. “Small sample size once again. I simply believe I can rely on my eye behind the bench. When I follow up and see it on video, I just want to attempt something else to spark a conversation.”
While a significant portion of Saturday’s 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators was not played at even strength, both the van Riemsdyk-Zacha-Pastrnak and Frederic-Poitras-Geekie lines did well creating scoring chances at 5-on-5, with the Zacha line out-chanceing Nashville 5-0 and the Poitras line out-scoring Nashville 6-2, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Despite outshooting the Predators 4-3, the Marchand-Coyle-DeBrusk line generated only four chances compared to Nashville’s seven while on the ice at 5-on-5.
Now, Marchand joins Poitras and Geekie on the second line, while Coyle and Frederic reunite on the third line. Montgomery remarked that he enjoyed how the latter duo performed at 5-on-5 last season, and he believes van Riemsdyk will enhance their pairing this year.
Coyle and Frederic are both excellent 5-on-5 below-the-tops players, according to Montgomery. “Both good defensively as well, so if I want to, I can match them up against another team’s best offensive line, but most importantly, the [offensive] zone time that they play well together, and I think a guy like van Riemsdyk really helps them connect the dots there.”
In his “extended NHL tryout,” Poitras will be put to even greater scrutiny. He is placed in a favorable situation with Marchand on his left and Geekie on his right, but he will encounter more difficult matchups during games.
Montgomery stated, “I do not believe Poitras will receive favorable matchups with Marchand on his line.” However, in order to participate in the NHL, you must compete against everyone.
Montgomery believes that by the end of the next three to four road games, he will have more answers than questions regarding his forward group’s alignment.
