For a team with as many new faces as the Bruins, there’s absolutely zero downside to an early-season road trip.
Whether it’s a veteran now skating with the pressure of an increased leadership role or voice, someone looking to find their fit within a new dressing room, or a player looking to get their own individual game going, Boston’s upcoming four-game road trip with stops in San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Chicago is a straight-up delight for chemistry purposes.
But while the four games in seven days trek will be a can’t lose crash course in team bonding, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery used Monday to make it clear that he wants — and needs — more from his offense.
“It’s a small sample size, it’s two games, but I just haven’t seen a lot of offensive five-on-five generation,” Montgomery said following Monday’s practice. “Again, small sample size, but I just trust my eye behind the bench and the one that followed up in video. I just wanna see something else and try to get a spark.”
Montgomery’s attempt at generating that spark went beyond words, too, as the second-year B’s coach jumbled three of his four forward lines ahead of Tuesday’s travel day to San Jose.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 05: Matthew Poitras #51 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on October 05, 2023 in New York City. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
The most notable change will come with a promotion for the 19-year-old Matt Poitras, as he’ll move up the center depth chart and center a line with Brad Marchand on his left. (Morgan Geekie, who has played with Poitras out of the gate, will also move up and skate at right wing.)
“He’s generated a lot of offense already, and obviously [I’ll be] giving him an elite player like Marchy on his line,” Montgomery said of his decision to promote Poitras up to a premier spot. “And I’ve really liked Geekie’s game. I just wanna see if there’s chemistry there offensively.”
It’s just two games (and thus too early to make any sort of definitive statement), but Poitras has done what he can to show that he belongs at this level and with this team, with one assist, four shots on goal, and wins in seven of his 14 battles at the dot with the Bruins.
“When he gets on the ice he’s a heck of a player, and he definitely shows that he belongs here,” Marchand said of Poitras. “So the biggest thing will be his consistency and showing up every night and so far he’s done that.”
This promotion up the lineup for Poitras will force him to go against some stiffer competition. And the Bruins will have an extremely limited say in ‘sheltering’ Poitras with the Bruins losing the benefit of last change. But this is something that he’s going to have to go through at some point in 2023-24 if he’s going to stick with the Bruins beyond his nine-game trial run with the club, so there’s no better than the present, the B’s suppose.
“I don’t think Poitras is gonna get the favorable matchup with Marchand on his line,” Montgomery admitted. “But if you’re gonna play in the NHL, you’re gonna play against everybody.”
Sep 24, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Jake DeBrusk (74) against the New York Rangers during the first period at TD Garden. (Eric Canha/USA TODAY Sports)
And with Poitras and Geekie moved up to Marchand’s line, the Bruins have decided to move Jake DeBrusk back to his natural side and to the left of Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak.
“Putting [DeBrusk] with the other two gives us a real good rush line that has a lot of speed and creativity to it,” Montgomery said of DeBrusk’s move from right wing to left wing and with two new linemates.
And given the attention that Pastrnak draws, this could be the perfect move to get DeBrusk’s motor going with some tangible results on the board. Through two games, DeBrusk has attempted the most five-on-five shots (11), and has landed six of those 11 attempts on goal, but is still sitting with zero goals and zero points. And given DeBrusk’s past and his tendencies, you always feel like he just needs a bounce to get the train rolling.
This is also not that far of a deviation from what the Bruins have tried to the left of the Zacha-Pastrnak duo.
Internally, DeBrusk is honestly the B’s best play at replicating a bit of what that second line looked like late in the regular season with Tyler Bertuzzi at left wing. DeBrusk may not be as ‘grimy’ as Bertuzzi to the naked eye, but he’s very much able to score the same kind of goals from in tight, and possesses a strong retrieval game.
The B’s scored four goals in 33 minutes of five-on-five action with DeBrusk and Pastrnak together in 2022-23.
DENVER, COLORADO – DECEMBER 7: Trent Frederic #11 and Charlie Coyle #13 of the Boston Bruins celebrate a third period Frederic goal against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on December 7, 2022. (Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
On the third line, meanwhile, Montgomery will go back to what’s been a reliable combo for him, with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic reunited, and with James van Riemsdyk to the left of ’em.
“Both really good five-on-five, below-the-tops players,” Montgomery said of the Coyle-Frederic duo. “They’re both good defensively as well. So if I want to, I can match them against another team’s best offensive line.”
Together for almost 650 minutes of five-on-five play last year, the Coyle-Frederic combination outscored opponents 35-18 and out-chanced them 354-296. They posted those figures while beginning less than 50 percent of their shifts in the attacking zone. They were a true do-it-all threat for the Bruins. And when Coyle skated without Frederic on his wing, the Bruins held an on-ice goal edge of 16-14 and had a minus-37 differential on the scoring chance front in over 420 minutes. It’s a combo that simply works.
And now comes seeing how a guy like van Riemsdyk, who got on the board with two power-play markers in last Saturday’s win over the Predators, can help maximize their game.
“A guy like van Riemsdyk really helps them connect the dots [for Coyle and Frederic],” Montgomery said. “[van Riemsdyk] likes to own the net front, Charlie likes to possess [the puck], and Frederic does a really good job of getting open as F3 and shooting it.”
Sep 24, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center John Beecher (19) waits for play to begin against the New York Rangers during the third period at TD Garden. (Eric Canha/USA TODAY Sports)
The only line that’ll be left alone — at least if Monday meant anything — for the start of this road trip will be Boston’s fourth line, which features Johnny Beecher between Milan Lucic and Jakub Lauko.
This line has been one of Boston’s better trios out of the gate, and has posted an 11-7 shot-attempt advantage, 6-4 edge in shots, and 3-0 edge in high-danger scoring chances in 10:27 of five-on-five time together.
The line also had a hot start against the Blackhawks on Opening Night, and again on Saturday, and could be asked to be the line’s kickstarter on the road and in hostile territory.
Mar 26, 2022; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) (right) talks with Hampus Lindholm (27) before a faceoff against the New York Islanders. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)
And on the backend, the Bruins tinkered with their pairings a little bit, with a practice that saw a lot of Hampus Lindholm with Charlie McAvoy as Boston’s top pairing, and with Matt Grzelcyk to the left of Brandon Carlo.
But this seems a bit more situation-based than anything you’re guaranteed to see regularly for this trip.
“I think it’s more situational,” Montgomery admitted. “If the game dictates or at the end of game, we’re going to want [Lindholm-McAvoy] to close out the game like in the empty net situation like in the last game.”
Keeping McAvoy and Lindholm on separate pairings for the majority of the game is still the move for the Bruins. Especially with the numbers they’ve posted when separated. In over 22 five-on-five minutes of McAvoy with Grzelcyk this season, the Bruins have controlled shot attempts by a 68 percent figure and out-chanced teams 16-7, while Lindholm and Carlo have dominated to the tune of a 19-9 on-ice shot advantage in 21 minutes of five-on-five play.
