Kalman: Paille's Raised His Game Since Rise In Bruins Lineup
BOSTON (CBS) - Daniel Paille has been freed from the clutches of Gregory Campbell and the Bruins winger has looked like a new man.
The speedster endured a first half from hell with one goal scored in 41 games. Although he hasn't added to that goal total in the Bruins' past two games – both wins – he's at least generated more chances since coach Claude Julien switched him to a line with Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron against the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils this week.
Paille is second-worst among Bruins regulars in Corsi For Percentage at 44.4 even after playing with Lucic and Bergeron the past two games. Against the Devils, Paille and his new linemates were well above 50 percent. Even against the Penguins, who dictated play most of the night before the Bruins won in overtime, Paille and Lucic were close to 50 percent and Bergeron exceeded that crucial plateau.
And how about Campbell? He's a Bruins-worst 41.8 in Corsi For Percentage. Against the Devils, he was the only skater under 50 percent in the game, during which the Bruins limited New Jersey to 14 shots on net.
Paille's not going to throw his longtime "brother in Merlot" under the bus. But clearly Paille needed a change of line to become a contributor this season. Julien said he thinks Paille is skating better now than at any point this season, and Paille thinks he knows why things have improved – he's getting more of a chance.
"I mean, not to be too ahead of myself, but when you play more you're going to see a lot more skating. You know that's not an excuse, but I can skate like that for eight minutes, six minutes, but sometimes it won't be as effective," the 30-year-old said. "When you're playing constantly, you're not thinking, you're just moving. So it makes it a lot easier at that time. So for me, when I get put in a position where I play lower minutes, that's where it becomes a mental game and not letting that bother me and just play."
Let's face it, Paille has lost the mental game this season and that's set off an old-school "chicken or the egg" problem for Julien. The coach can't play him because he's not performing and Paille has trouble performing when he's not playing much.
Too often, Julien has had to shorten his bench and keep his fourth line off the ice for long stretches. Paille's best scoring chances have all drawn iron or glass. Maybe the only thing that's kept Paille and Campbell in the lineup all season has been the injuries to both the Bruins and their Providence farm club in the American Hockey League.
Add to that the inability of any of Boston's prospects to graduate to the NHL, and suddenly Julien has little choice but to ride veterans that are making a mockery of analytics.
"You've got to take some and you've got to leave some," Julien said about the advanced stats. "You know you've still got to judge the game by what you see. But those stats, definitely, there's some stuff that is useful there. And you certainly have to look at that. But for me right now, it's more about we don't have the perfect players in all places where we've had in the past. So I've got to kind of find those players to put in different positions. Again, so far, in two games Dan Paille's done a great job on the right side. That's the best he's skated, in the last two games, this year. So you know, you say he deserves to be there. That's where he is right now."
The Bruins' struggles prior to the win against the Penguins and Loui Eriksson's injury contributed to Julien's decision to expand Paille's role. But it sounds like Julien is going to keep giving Paille a little more love as long as the forward keeps earning it.
Any forward that gets moved from a line centered by Campbell to a line centered by Bergeron is obviously going to see an increase in all sorts of production. Heck, any Joe on the street is going to get a boost in production from playing with the mighty Bergeron. But what the Bruins must worry about now is how much Campbell is holding any of his linemates back. That negative Corsi number against the Devils is scary considering how one-sided in the Bruins' favor that game was.
But back to one of the positives in this two-game winning streak, directly related to Paille. When playing with Bergeron, there's also a defensive responsibility that has to be handled. Reilly Smith, Brad Marchand and others have done that job well over the years. Lucic is no slouch in his own end, but no one's putting him on any Selke lists. So it's really up to Paille to make sure this new line can work in the Boston end as well as the opposition's zone. Julien's confident Paille can help make sure the line doesn't spring any leaks.
"I have a lot of confidence in Dan Paille. That line [the Bruins' fourth line] a few years ago were able to hold the Sedins, for example," Julien said. "They know how to play defense. And Dan knows. And Dan's a great skater and when you give Dan that responsibility, he takes it to heart. And Looch when he's on his game, it's not an issue. So I thought I had a real reliable line there and they showed that [Thursday] night."
Paille and Lucic have both been revitalized since they were blessed with a spot next to Bergeron. And as he tries to get back on the type of pace that made him a 10-goal scorer in the lockout-shortened 2013 season, Paille's taking the same fresh-start attitude as Lucic.
"Yeah, it's definitely been a different test, a harder test than most years, I believe," Paille said. "That falls more on myself than anything. But at the same time, like Looch, I feel like enough's enough and you have to answer the ... be ready and change the momentum because you don't want to make it too late."
Hopefully for Paille and the Bruins, Julien's line switch didn't happen too late and Julien won't wait until it's too late to do something about Campbell.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
Hear every game of the 2014-15 Boston Bruins season on 98.5 The Sports Hub — the flagship station of the Boston Bruins. Pregame coverage with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers begins 30 minutes prior to every game!
MORE BRUINS COVERAGE FROM CBS BOSTON
